Mumbai: While the Navi Mumbai airport project has been cleared for take off, two other big-ticket projects in Maharashtra — a cargo hub in Nagpur and an international airport at Rajgurunagar near Pune — are grounded because of delays in land acquisition.
Owing to protests over acquisition of agricultural land and other concerns, state government officials feel the Rajgurunagar site may not be feasible. Also, large portions of the land are undulated and require levelling. This will push up costs, an official said. "We are exploring alternate land in the vicinity,'' said Nandkumar Jantre, the state government’s secretary (civil aviation).
Shifting of the location would mean technical feasibility clearance from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) would have to be taken afresh and this could cause more delays. Jantre said private and government owned land near Rajgurunagar is being examined.
Maharashtra Airport Development Committee officials said they were looking to acquire 2,500-3,000 hectares for a second airport in Pune. It is to be capable of handling 20 million passengers annually and the total estimated cost, including commercial development and land acquisition, was Rs 7,000 crore
A second Pune airport has been on the drawing board for over five years. After discarding a couple of locations, the Union civil aviation ministry gave its nod for an airport at Rajgurunagar, 35 km from Pune.
23/05/11 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard
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