No buildings, hotels near land for new airport

The Navi Mumbai airport will not have any commercial structures such as hotels or private offices in its vicinity. Also, one-fourth of the area will be maintained as a no-development zone with complete ban on any construction activity.

The Navi Mumbai airport will not have any commercial structures such as hotels or private offices in its vicinity. Also, one-fourth of the area will be maintained as a no-development zone with complete ban on any construction activity.

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This is the highlight of the revised plan for the 2,753-hectare land earmarked for the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport.

The plan was finalised on Monday in a meeting of the City and Industrial Corporation Limited (CIDCO), the nodal agency for the airport,

Around 626 hectare will be no-development zone, of which around 300 hectare land will be on the right of the airport, 70 will be on the left and remaining 256 hectare will form a mangroves park at Waghivali island.

“As suggested by the Union ministry of environment and forest, no development will be allowed on 626 hectare of land which is also meant for protecting mangroves and water bodies,” said TC Benjamin, principal secretary (urban development).

The CIDCO comes under administration control of the urban development department.

Around 2,127-hectare land will be used only for airport-related activities. The northern side of the land will have the airport while the southern side will be used for non-aeronautical purposes. It will have hangers and maintenance units, airlines’ offices, parking lots, cargo handling units and open spaces.

“No commercial construction for non-airport activities will be allowed. There will be a freeze on development in the area to avoid pressure of new constructions on this land,” Benjamin said.

The CIDCO has revised its land-use plan as the MoEF has given conditional clearance to the airport. One of the conditions laid down by the MoEF was that part of the land occupied by mangroves and water bodies should be left untouched and there be no diversion of Gadhi river.

The CIDCO will now seek suggestions and objections from the people. After a formal approval to the plan by the government, it would invite tenders for building the new airport.