State sets six-month deadline to get clearance for airport projects

The Environment Ministry's clearance for the new Mumbai airport has prompted the state government to move into top gear to complete the project.

The Environment Ministry's clearance for the new Mumbai airport has prompted the state government to move into top gear to complete the project.

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All the agencies which are involved in construction of the airport had a meeting at Mantralaya on Wednesday. They decided to set up a six month deadline for getting all regulatory clearances necessary for the project.

“We have set a six-month deadline to ensure that all the regulatory clearances are received,” a senior state government official said.

In a move to expedite the process, the Urban Development Department has called a meeting of officials from CIDCO, Town Planning and Land Acquisition to chart the course of action for the project.

There are still a slew of clearances that CIDCO, which is the implementing agency of the project, has to get before work on the project finally begins.

In the meeting, it was also decided that to embark on the compensatory mangrove plantation activity.

The Union environment ministry had called for compensatory mangrove plantation on 678 hectares around the new site to replace the 161 hectares of mangrove that will be cut to build the airport.