Dinesh Kamath's Editorial (CIDCO requires only Centre’s cooperation) that was published in Newsband

CIDCO requires only Centre’s cooperation

City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the nodal agency for building Navi Mumbai international airport, has demanded the centre to give it powers to clear the building plans up to 75 meters height. Such powers are presently with the civil aviation ministry which is going to partner with the CIDCO. Why is civil aviation ministry delaying in the matter of giving this clearance?

Recently the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and CIDCO Chairman Pramod Hindurao called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to apprise him of the progress over the ambitious Rs 14000 crore project to come up on over 2000 hectares of land. As per the civil aviation norms within minimum 9 km to 20 km of the airport's periphery the norms for high buildings are stricter. To expedite the commencement of bidding process for the project, CIDCO has prepared the bid draft for approval of the Project Monitoring Committee of GoM and civil aviation ministry. This is a good move on the part of CIDCO.

CIDCO on Saturday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention for an early approval of the request for qualification (RFQ) for the project. CIDCO also sought financial assistance from the Centre for pre-development costs.

Chairman Pramod Hindurao, during his meeting with Singh at the state governor’s residence here, brought to the latter’s notice that the RFQ was submitted in April, but the approval of the ministry of civil aviation was still awaited.

The total project cost has been pegged at Rs 14,500 crore, of which Rs 9,000 crore would be for phase I. Of the Rs 9,000 crore, pre-development cost is about Rs 4,000 crore. It is required for preparation of airport site, including land acquisition, relief and rehabilitation and land development. To make this greenfield project viable, to be developed under public-private partnership, assistance from the Central government is necessary. CIDCO also sought exemption in no objection certificate application system from the Airports Authority of India.

The elections are coming close. If the Prime Minister accepts Hindurao’s demands, it will give a tremendous boost to the image of his Congress Party within Navi Mumbai.

Normally the Project Affected Villagers (PAV) pose a problem to CIDCO but this time PAV of Navi Mumbai International Airport have agreed to a joint measurement with the Maharashtra revenue department officials for 274 hectare of land to be acquired for the project. However, PAVs and the state government have yet to arrive at an agreement over the quantity of developed land to be given to the PAVs who have already dropped their demand for compensation of Rs 20 crore per acre. PAVs are 40 per cent of developed land, while the state government is offering 22.5 per cent developed land.

When PAVs and state government are cooperating, why is Centre taking so much time to extend its full support to CIDCO?