Cidco hopeful of commissioning Navi Mumbai airport by end-2019

THANE: Expressing confidence in meeting the deadlines, the City & Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) today said the first phase of the Rs 16,000-crore Navi Mumbai international airport will be completed by 2019-end.

The Navi Mumbai town planning authority recently awarded the contract to develop the much-delayed airport to GVK-led Mumbai International Airport.

"The work on the project is on fast track and in all probability the first phase would be completed as per time lines-that's towards the end of 2019," Cidco joint managing director Prajakta Verma told reporters here.

This February, the GVK Group, which had the first right of refusal in case of a higher bid, had won the bids for the greenfield airport that will be built on a 1,160-hectare marshy land on a PPP mode with the Cidco as the nodal public implementing agency.

Interestingly, a Capa (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) report had stated that the airport would not commence operations before fiscal 2023 as significant earthwork have to be carried out to begin construction of the main airport infrastructure.

However, Verma said work of razing the hill to fill the nearby marshy land is well in progress and will be completed by next May after which the remaining job would be undertaken by the GVK Group.

A 90-meter tall hillock is being razed to just 8 meters for the runways and the terminal buildings.

Cidco has earmarked 2,750 plots for rehabilitation of the project affected people, which would be ready by next February for occupation, she said.

The first phase of the airport will have a capacity of 10 million passengers per annum and will be able to handle 40 million on full capacity by 2030.