PM Modi to visit Navi Mumbai airport site on Feb 18, kick off construction work
PM will also attend the Magnetic Maharashtra investor summit at BKC on February 18 (Representational Image)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch the construction work of the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport on February 18.
Vice-chairman and Managing Director of City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), Bhushan Gagrani, confirmed Modi’s visit to the Navi Mumbai airport site to Hindustan Times.
The PM was already scheduled to be in the city on February 18 to unveil the Magnetic Maharashtra investor summit at Bandra-Kurla Complex.
Officials are confident that PM’s direct involvement in the long-delayed project will give it the required impetus to ensure rapid progress and completion.
The airport was first proposed in 1997 and approved by the government in 2007. However, it got delayed due to land acquisition issues and securing necessary government permissions, including environmental clearance.
GVK, which operates the existing airport in Mumbai, won the bid to develop the Navi Mumbai airport at a cost of Rs 16,500 crore back in February last year.
The new airport is extremely crucial for Mumbai, as the existing airport has reached its saturation point. The Mumbai airport, incidentally, was also ranked as the world’s busiest single runway airport in 2017, handling 45.2 million flyers.
Meanwhile, pre-construction work like laying overhear high tension wires, cutting of Ulwe hills and diverting Gadi river at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore has been underway since last year.
