Navi Mumbai airport to be ready by 2015

Mumbai: The much-needed environmental clearance for the proposed second airport in Mumbai could be in place within a month. The planned international airport at Navi Mumbai is likely to be operational by 2015, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters here on Monday.
“The Navi Mumbai airport should have been in operation by 2011, but we will try to push it for at least a partial or a first phase opening by 2014-15,” Patel said on the sidelines of a function organised by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council in Mumbai.
The proposed new airport ran into rough weather after the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) refused to accord environment clearance to the project as it would have damaged 400 acres of mangroves at the site.
The standoff has now been sorted out as both the aviation and environment ministries have found a mutually acceptable solution in which the airport would come up at the proposed site but without harming the mangroves.
13/10/10 David Shaftel/Tehelka.com

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Categories: airports Oct 2010, New Oct 2010