The already delayed Navi Mumbai airport project is facing further delays because of land acquisition problems. For the past one year, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), the projectÂ’s nodal agency, has been struggling to resolve the compensation issue related to the 291 hectares of private land that has to be acquired from farmers in 18 villages.
The project affected people (PAP) have demanded Rs20 crore for every acre of land or 35 per cent of developed land as compensation. According to Cidco, the project will become financially unviable if it meets these demands.
RC Gharat, representative of the PAP, said that what they have demanded as per the market rates. Cidco officials have offered us 22.5 per cent of developed land. But PAP have rejected the offer. Six months ago, Cidco sent the Request for Qualification (RFQ) documents to the Union civil aviation ministry for approval, which is mandatory to float tenders.
However, Cidco will have to resolve the land acquisition issue to get the approval. Even if Cidco resolve the land acquisition issue in one yearÂ’s time and get approval to RFQ documents, it will need one more year to finish the tendering process as it involves complex procedures, said a Cidco official. Construction will not start before end of 2015, the Cidco sources said.
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