Dinesh Kamath's news item 'CIDCO faces land acquisition problem: Navi Mumbai airport project' that was published in Newsband

CIDCO faces land acquisition problem: Navi Mumbai airport project

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Navi Mumbai airport project is facing delays because of land acquisition problems. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has not yet succeeded in resolving the compensation issue related to the 291 hectares of private land that has to be acquired from farmers in 18 villages.

The project affected persons (PAPs) have demanded Rs 20 crore for every acre of land or 35% of developed land as compensation. CIDCO finds this demand unreasonable. CIDCO had offered the PAPs 22.5% of developed land which they rejected.

CIDCO will have to resolve the land acquisition issue to get the approval of Request for Qualification (RFQ) from Union civil aviation ministry. Once the land acquisition issue is solved and approval to RFQ documents obtained, CIDCO will need to finish the tendering process. Also CIDCO has to get the final approval for forest clearance from the Union environment ministry. Hence it appears that construction will not start before the end of 2015 and the airport is not likely to be operational before 2018.