Govt to give blueprint of proposed sea link

The Juhu airport authority has asked the state government for drawings of the proposed Versova-Bandra sea link to find out the distance of the six-lane bridge from the airport boundary. Soubhik Mitra reports.

The Juhu airport authority has asked the state government for drawings of the proposed Versova-Bandra sea link to find out the distance of the six-lane bridge from the airport boundary.

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The state body is likely to submit the blueprints by Friday.

The decision was taken at a meeting between the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) officials and Juhu airport authorities on Wednesday. "We have asked for the drawings to gauge the actual distance of the corridor from the airport boundary," said a Juhu airport official, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

This was the second meeting in a week to iron out the differences between Juhu's expansion and the proposed sea link.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) wants to increase the length of Juhu's main runway by 1,000m, which could result in the airstrip protruding into the sea. This would bring the airport's take-off path a mere 700m from the sea link, which is unsafe of flight operations said experts.

"Both projects are equally important for the city's future. It is difficult to compromise on any of them," said another official requesting anonymity.