Navi Mumbai Airport will be ready by December 2019: CM Fadnavis

Mumbai: Days after the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the Navi Mumbai airport, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said that the airport will be functional by December 2019.

He said in the assembly that the project will be completed in two phases. “The terminal building will have the capacity to handle 50 lakh passengers. The entire project will be completed in two to two-and-a-half years,” the CM said. He was responding to supplementary questions about the fee for transfer of land for rehabilitation of project-affected persons (PAPs).”

The issue of transfer fee and development fee was raised in the assembly by Congress leader and former chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan. Members of the assembly debated the issue, stressing on the need to decongest the existing airport in Mumbai where one aircraft takes off every minute. They said that the Navi Mumbai airport needs to be completed expeditiously in a time-bound manner. In reply, the CM said that the fee is levied only if land given to PAPs is transferred to a third party for redevelopment.

The greenfield airport will cover 1,600 hectare area in Navi Mumbai, and the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is the nodal agency for the project. The Navi Mumbai international airport, the second airport in the city, will be built near Panvel. 

The project, worth Rs 16,000 crore, has been mired in environment-related controversy due to which it has been delayed.