Green panel clears Navi Mumbai airport Mumbai may finally get its new airport now as a panel of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has given the ‘green signal’ for the multi-billion rupee project. The proposal had also received an intense push from Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan who had met Union environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to clear hurdles in its path. The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) cleared the proposal in its recently held meeting ‘recommending forest clearance’ with several conditions for diversion of around 250 hectares of forest land in Raigad. It had already got the environmental clearance in 2010. One of the main concerns of the FAC was mangrove forest in the area sought for diversion and while recommending approval, it has clearly laid down that “afforestation of mangrove species over an area equivalent in extent to mangrove forest area being diverted has to be raised and maintained by the user agency at their own cost”. FAC also directed that a specific plan be prepared by a reputed organisation like the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) and the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and its recommendations for mitigating the impact of the airport on avifauna. Another concern area was that the project is within a 10km radius of the Karnala Bird sanctuary. So, the committee, while recommending the airport, noted that two airstrips proposed in the project are East-West-oriented and will have lesser impact on Karnala Bird Sanctuary. “However, in view of the impact on the Karnala Bird Sanctuary, no proposal for extension of project will be entertained towards Karnala Bird Sanctuary,” FAC said. It also said that the authorities, in future, shall not submit any proposal for extension of the project or any other project related to airport in the forest land between the present project site and Karnala Bird Sanctuary. FAC said that the state government should ensure that settlement of displaced people does not take place on the forest land. It also cleared that an approved Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Plan by the state government would be submitted before Stage-II approval to the project. The committee also said that a monitoring committee be formed to monitor the implementation of different conditions stipulated and submit a six-monthly report to the MoEF. FAC’s recommendation will now go to Natarajan for the final stamp of clearance. But she is not expected to put any hurdle as Natarajan led standing committee of NBWL had cleared the project in June. Also neither any rare nor endangered flora and fauna species is found in the area nor is it part of any protected area. The project has also been on the radar of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) which is trying to address prolonged delay in key infrastructure projects across the country. It is also reportedly one of the projects for which the PMO has reportedly set deadlines for award of contract. The estimated cost of the project, when envisaged, was under Rs5,000 crore but today it is well over Rs10,000 crore. It is expected to generate direct and indirect employment of 90,000 each. The Navi Mumbai airport is aimed at decongesting the international airport in Mumbai. The capacity of the proposed airport is pegged at 60million passengers per annum (MPPA) and it was envisaged as the present Mumbai airport, even after modernisation and expansion, will be able to accommodate only around 40MPPA by 2013-14. The air travel demand for Mumbai region has been forecast around 119MPPA by 2030-31 which, at present, is around 25MPPA. flatsatnavimumbai/
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 08:00:01 +0000
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