Airport Authority of India (AAI) commissions study to explore alternate for land acquisition
Aimed at making land acquisition process hassle-free and effective, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has assigned a research study to Ahmedabad-based CEPT University to formulate a policy framework for land procurement for new airports and expansion of the existing ones.
The academic research, assigned to Centre for Urban Land and Real Estate Policy (CULREP) at CEPT University last month, will explore different alternate strategies for land acquisition including readjustment for greenfield and brownfield airport projects.
"We will try to develop a model, which can be up-scaled to the large scale acquisitions. If it would not be acquisition, it would be readjustment or something like that," said Prof Rutool Sharma, one of the core team members on the project.
The research project has been funded by AAI and is likely to be completed over a period of next 6-7 months.
India's civil aviation market is likely to become the largest in the world by 2030 with surge in passenger traffic and investments. AAI has laid down plans to increase the number of airports to 250 by 2030 to meet the growing demand.
For the greenfield or brownfield projects, the state governments are expected to provide land for the purpose.
Traditionally, such land required for the ‘public purpose’ of developing airports was being compulsorily acquired. More recently, the experience of many state governments revealed that compulsory acquisition is often time consuming, financially expensive and prone to political resistance.
"Therefore, AAI intends to explore an alternate policy framework of land procurement for airport projects; one which does not rely on compulsory acquisition of land," said Sharma.
The Study will recommend a broader Policy for Land Procurement for Airport Projects. This policy will be based on review of state legislation and case studies of new and existing airports, said Sharma.
The research will take place under the direction and guidance of Dr Bimal Patel, President, CEPT University and Prof Vidyadhar Phatak, Dean, Faculty of Planning. The execution of the study will be undertaken by the joint team, comprising three professors from CEPT University.
The team will be assisted by competent professionals comprising geomagnetic experts, planners, urban designers and architects.
Dr Patel said, "Traditional methods of land acquisition have been unsuccessful in many places because of the time and costs involved in the process. There is an urgent need to develop an alternate framework for land procurement for large projects... As part of this study, we will review some of these mechanisms and recommend the most suitable alternative to land procurement for large projects."
These alternatives may also be suitable for land procurement for other large projects like industrial clusters, highways, ports among others.