Navi Mumbai Airport gets 150 hectares

The Maharashtra government has allocated 150 hectares of land for the construction of the Navi Mumbai airport to CIDCO, the nodal agency handling the new airport’s construction and development. Of the total 2,054 hectares required for the airport, currently CIDCO has in its possession 1,341 hectares. The land needed to be acquired for the project has now decreased to 563 hectares with the state government’s decision. CIDCO plans to get the land through land acquisition and has already served notices under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 to the residents of Pargaon and Owale for the purpose. The government’s efforts are to make the first phase of the airport operational by 2014 with an annual capacity of 10 million passengers and the final phase by 2030 with a capacity of 60 million passengers per annum.