The much—needed Navi Mumbai International airport, to cost around Rs.17000 crore, will be helpful in clearing the clutter over Mumbai’s airspace but the moot question is .. will it be operational by the end of 2024, as promised by the government and the developer, Adani Group. The project will benefit numerous people, directly and indirectly, in terms of employment generation and opportunities to engage in other income-generating activities. It will also result in savings of millions of rupees since a large number of flights will operate from this airport, eliminating the need for the people arriving from the hinterland to come all the way to Mumbai to board their flights.
Renamed as Loknete DB Patil Navi Mumbai International Airport, the project is planned in four phases. At full potential, it will be able to handle over 60 million passengers annually. According to the original deadline, the project was to take off in 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the project in 2018. After missing repeated deadlines, it is likely to be commissioned for operations by December 2024, provided all goes as planned. A subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited, the project developer is the Navi Mumbai International Airport on a public-private partnership basis with CIDCO. The airport is claimed to be one of the world’s largest greenfield airports. It will be equipped with two parallel runways of 3700 metres each and will have adequate taxiways. They will be 1550 metres apart from each other.
The thorny issue of rehabilitation of the project-affected persons (PAPs) has been satisfactorily handled. Land acquisition for any mega project is the main reason for its delay. In case of the Navi Mumbai airport, about 1160 hectares land spread ovrer 12 villages was needed. Initially, the majority of the villagers opposed the project but were persuaded to cooperate, considering their demands. The highlight of the package is a novel compensation model. Each PAP family would obtain 22.5 percent developed land in lieu of its original holding, in addition to the alternative accommodation three times the size of their affected residence and assured employment for a family member. The project is stated to have reached financial closure. The authorities have based their confidence to meet the deadline of December 2024 on this major development.
The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) was appointed by the Maharashtra government as the nodal agency for the execution of the Navi Mumbai International Airport project in 2018. The authority has adopted the DBFOT Model– design, build, finance, operate and transfer – under public-private partnership. The entire project of the airport has been planned in four phases, the last to be completed by 2032.
The total land area for the airport is estimated to be around 2860 acres. The first phase will complete the construction of two runways, handling about 80 flights every hour. The project has been delayed for several reasons, the main being the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. Earlier, opposition by the PAPs had stalled the work. As experienced everywhere, land acquisition did halt it further. Statutory and environmental restrictions had to be overcome since the entire airport site falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). Financial closure by the developer was another major factor.
The Adani Group acquired a controlling stake in the project in 2021. CIDCO handed over the land to Adani . The construction contract for Phase 1 was awarded to Larsen and Toubro, which possesses ample experience of handling mega projects. The contract includes cut and fill works, terminal construction work, departure and arrival forecourts, the two runways, apron systems, taxiway systems, airfield ground lighting and other facilities, like multilevel car parking, utilities and supporting infrastructure.
Located along National Highway 4B, the airport will be linked to Mumbai through the 21 km six-lane Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL). Consisting in all of four phases, the airport will be equipped to handle over ten million travellers a year under the first phase. The capacity will increase to handling 25 million passengers every year in the second phase. Finally, 60 million passengers will be serviced a year by 2032. The airport will also be connected to Pune. This will promote the connectivity and a boost for the real estate market in Navi Mumbai.
The idea for a second airport was proposed to reduce the burden on the current international airport in Mumbai. Close by, Navi Mumbai has had large tracts of open land, many of them owned by the government. Various projects like Jawaharlal Nehru port, the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, the Mumbai-Pune expressway have turned this area into one of the most productive pockets in the country. Hence, it was an obvious choice for an international airport.
According to Adani Group planning, a twin-airport strategy for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai airports has been adopted. The first part of this plan involves shifting of turboprop aircraft operations to Navi Mumbai airport. This will reduce congestion at the Mumbai international airport. The strategy aims to free up runway capacity at Mumbai airport by shifting the small aircraft operations to Navi Mumbai. Another factor in this plan of shifting operations of one of the major airlines to Navi Mumbai. When this happens, it will enhance efficiency and cost-saving for that airline as it will obtain priority allocation of slots at Navi Mumbai.
The Adani Group has acquired a 74 percent stake in Mumbai’s international airport in July 2021 by picking up GVK Group’s 50.5 percent stake and a 23.5 percent stake from ACSA Global Ltd and Bid Services Division (Mauritius) Ltd (Bidvest). As a result, the group could win the bid to build and operate the Navi Mumbai airport. It is felt that the Adani Group will need to freshly plan its businesses, including the airports, following the battering it has experienced over the past two months, following the damaging media reports about its holdings. Although the group is firm about its commitment to the deadline, its assertions are taken with a pinch of salt.
