Navi Mumbai: The next eight months will decide if chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s plan to see the maiden flight taking off at the Navi Mumbai international airport by 2019-end can be realized. Already working to a tight deadline, Cidco is facing an uphill task of relocating project affected persons (PAPs) and clearing the land by flattening Ulwe hill and diverting Ulwe river by December-end. This will give the concessionaire at least one year for development of the airport.
The government wants one runway (3.7km-long) of the airport ready by December 2019 for the maiden flight. As of now 40% of shifting of villagers has been done and 36% of the hill has been levelled; both the works are closely linked. A Rs 2,033-crore work order for the hill operation and diversion of river was issued on April 24, 2017, but not much work could be done as several months were lost—first to monsoon and then to protests by villagers in October. Now, Cidco officials plan to go full throttle with the work to meet the deadline.
“We have already undertaken the biggest blast, disgorging 41,000 cubic metres of rocky material 10 days ago. But now, it is time for bigger blasts. We have to blast, cut and level the hill at 5.5m and hand over the land by December-end. The daily blasting exercise ensures 1 lakh cubic metre is taken out,” said superintending engineer of the project Sanjay Dahedar. The concessionaire will then level the ground to 8m for the airport to be developed.
Though river diversion work is also on, the waterbody may not change course before the next monsoon. “This monsoon, Ulwe river will continue to flow from south to north via the lowland of the hill. But next rains, it will be diverted to the west, along the southern part of the hill and have a new course of 3km into Moha creek,” he said.
On the rehabilitation front, the Cidco’s rental scheme, which provides for rent to families for 18 months—during which they are are supposed to build or get new houses, too has met with little success. It was started in July, 2016, but only 40% families have opted for it.
25/04/18 Times of India
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The government wants one runway (3.7km-long) of the airport ready by December 2019 for the maiden flight. As of now 40% of shifting of villagers has been done and 36% of the hill has been levelled; both the works are closely linked. A Rs 2,033-crore work order for the hill operation and diversion of river was issued on April 24, 2017, but not much work could be done as several months were lost—first to monsoon and then to protests by villagers in October. Now, Cidco officials plan to go full throttle with the work to meet the deadline.
“We have already undertaken the biggest blast, disgorging 41,000 cubic metres of rocky material 10 days ago. But now, it is time for bigger blasts. We have to blast, cut and level the hill at 5.5m and hand over the land by December-end. The daily blasting exercise ensures 1 lakh cubic metre is taken out,” said superintending engineer of the project Sanjay Dahedar. The concessionaire will then level the ground to 8m for the airport to be developed.
Though river diversion work is also on, the waterbody may not change course before the next monsoon. “This monsoon, Ulwe river will continue to flow from south to north via the lowland of the hill. But next rains, it will be diverted to the west, along the southern part of the hill and have a new course of 3km into Moha creek,” he said.
On the rehabilitation front, the Cidco’s rental scheme, which provides for rent to families for 18 months—during which they are are supposed to build or get new houses, too has met with little success. It was started in July, 2016, but only 40% families have opted for it.
25/04/18 Times of India
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