New Delhi:
Whether Mumbai will have a second airport at a location that's been contentious in the recent past is likely to be decided in early November. The Environment Minister, who had objected to the blueprint for the airport, offered this broad hint. Standing next to the Civil Aviation Minister, he said, today, "He is Praful - and I am hopeful."
Praful Patel's smile widened.
The new airport - 20 km away from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport - had edged Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Praful Patel into a lengthy stand-off.
Today, Ramesh said "from an environment point of view, we are 65% satisfied" and went on to explain the terms of the compromise. He said the Civil Aviation Ministry has agreed to make "a major effort of mangrove protection." The original plan, environmentalists worried, risked 400 acres of mangrove, and called for two rivers to be diverted. Ramesh said Patel and the Maharashtra government have agreed that River Gadhi will not be affected. Ramesh said he hopes that in the next few days, a similar solution will be found for River Ulwe. "We still have some way to go, some more issues need to be looked at... including the diversion of the second river," he said.
The Environment Minister said that he has accepted that a hill in the area will have to be cut into to accommodate a second runway. It is already being quarried, he said, but he recognises that " if we need two runways, now a pre-requisite for any international airport, the mountain cannot remain."
On November 9 and 10, the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Environment Ministry, which visited the site for two days earlier this month, will review the compromises reached and share what's expected to be its final verdict.
"Issues of the environment are important to all of us," said Patel. "All agencies are sensitive to the concerns of the Ministry of Environment... I am sure that on November 9 and 10, the committee will take a constructive view."
Mumbai needs a second international airport because it could exhaust its capacity for 40 million passengers per year by 2013. The Navi Mumbai airport, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2013, is expected to handle an additional 60 million passengers every year