The flight has been delayed by a few years but the runway is now ready for the work of Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai airport to finally take off. Once it gathers speed, the development plank may soar high in the sky but the fate of the ecologically sensitive mangroves, flood plains and life of many affected families is bound to crash.
Elections to Maharashtra’s legislative assembly are scheduled on October 21, 2019 and mega investment projects worth of trillions of rupees have been high on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government’s agenda ever since it came into power. Even in the manifesto released for Maharashtra elections, the state unit of BJP has put emphasis on infrastructure development including the development of airports across the state.
One such ambitious project is the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. The project has been in the making since 2010 when it had first got environment clearance. Subsequently, it received forest clearance, coastal regulation zone clearance and wildlife clearance. The airport, which was first scheduled to start operations in 2019, now has a new deadline of 2021.
Navi Mumbai airport project’s development cost has been estimated to be around Rs. 100 billion (Rs. 10,000 crore). It was envisaged to reduce the congestion at the present Mumbai airport. The site for the new airport is less than 50 kilometres away from the present airport but the development of a new airport is expected to usher in economic activities around the project site including commercial spaces like hotels. Initially, Navi Mumbai airport is expected to handle 10 million passengers annually and once fully completed it is expected to handle 60 million passengers every year by 2030 and could end up becoming one of the country’s busiest airport.
17/10/19 Nikhil S. Dixit/Mongabay
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Elections to Maharashtra’s legislative assembly are scheduled on October 21, 2019 and mega investment projects worth of trillions of rupees have been high on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Maharashtra government’s agenda ever since it came into power. Even in the manifesto released for Maharashtra elections, the state unit of BJP has put emphasis on infrastructure development including the development of airports across the state.
One such ambitious project is the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. The project has been in the making since 2010 when it had first got environment clearance. Subsequently, it received forest clearance, coastal regulation zone clearance and wildlife clearance. The airport, which was first scheduled to start operations in 2019, now has a new deadline of 2021.
Navi Mumbai airport project’s development cost has been estimated to be around Rs. 100 billion (Rs. 10,000 crore). It was envisaged to reduce the congestion at the present Mumbai airport. The site for the new airport is less than 50 kilometres away from the present airport but the development of a new airport is expected to usher in economic activities around the project site including commercial spaces like hotels. Initially, Navi Mumbai airport is expected to handle 10 million passengers annually and once fully completed it is expected to handle 60 million passengers every year by 2030 and could end up becoming one of the country’s busiest airport.
17/10/19 Nikhil S. Dixit/Mongabay
0 comments:
Post a Comment