Mumbai: Since 2010 when the Shirdi airport project started, a total of 1,000 acres of land has been acquired so far. Initially, the government required only 840 acres for the Rs315-crore project but the land demand kept increasing as the construction progressed.
It’s a first in the history of Indian aviation that an airport is being built without any delay, thanks to villagers who readily parted with their land in the hope of seeing the place develop.
In two years, the barren landscape has been transformed. A runway is ready in the buzzing construction site, 13km from Shirdi shrine. The foundation of the terminal building has been laid.
“Thirty five per cent of the work is completed,” said an official of Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC), a state government agency, which is building the airport.
The agency is now scouting for a consultant which can get them a global private player to further develop and operate it on a public private partnership (PPP) basis. “The project is coming up fast and would be capable of handling bigger planes. International flights could also be operated from here,” said a senior MADC official.
Shirdi airport project has set an example in execution of a proposal mooted only a couple of years ago.
The MADC officials attribute the feat of fast completion of work to the residents, who did not pose any hurdle and handed over their land at a ‘special negotiated’ rate.
But, the initial excitement among farmers of Kakdi village in Shirdi has fizzled out. Because the land rates shot up after the airport project, they now feel that they got a meagre amount for their land.
03/12/12 Shahkar Abidi/Daily News & Analysis
