New Mumbai airport plan pits environment against business

Lush green mangrove trees and shrubs stretch into the distance on the muddy outskirts of Navi Mumbai in western India, the low-lying land swollen with heavy monsoon rains.
Nearby, the people of Chinchpada are starting their day: women wash and dry clothes in the open, children walk barefoot to school along a dirt track and men sip tea at a stall.
But the village, nearly a dozen others like it nearby, and 160 hectares (395 acres) of the steaming mangroves are under threat.
A blue sign on the roadside indicates why: "Site For International Airport," it says in large white letters.
India's government is expected to make a decision on whether to give the go-ahead for the 90-billion-rupee (1.9-billion-dollar) project within weeks, after a battle between developers and opponents lasting more than a decade.
The fight sums up the dilemma facing modern India: what gets sacrificed in the quest for better infrastructure to cater for a rapidly expanding population - and how to deal with those who happen to be in the way.
Environmentalists have taken heart at the concerns expressed by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh about upsetting the delicate ecological balance in what is officially a protected tidal wetland area.
"The environment will be destroyed if they get rid of the entire mangrove," Pandharinath Keni, a local farmer and fisherman, told AFP. "If they fill it in, there will be knock-on problems. The water has to go somewhere."
Activists like Stalin Dayanand, manager at the Mumbai-based Conservation Action Trust charity, are unconvinced by the developers' promise to replant mangroves elsewhere on the coast.
15/07/10 AFP/Independant

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Categories: Airports Jul 2010, New Jul 2010