MUMBAI: After delays in the rehabilitation of project affected people, the cost escalation has hit the Navi Mumbai International Airport. While the cost for the first phase of the project have seen an increase of 50 per cent, the total cost of the Rs 16,000 crore project might even more escalation, experts in the field have opined.
The state-owned City and Industries Development Corporation (CIDCO), who is the nodal development authority for the project, has handed over the land in core area of the proposed airport to GVK, who are entrusted with construction of the airport, only last week.
However, at least 2000 project affected people are yet to be shifted. The delay in shifting the project affected people from around eight villages has already put up question marks over timely completion of the project.
While Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had been repeatedly saying that the first phase of the airport would be operational by December 2019, the deadline is likely to be missed as the requisite pace of work has not been attained as yet.
The pre-construction development work is getting hampered by the heavy rains, while the project affected people too have declined to move away before the end of monsoon. This means that the requisite pace of work won't be achieved at least for two more months, which would in turn increase the delay.To add to the delay, a recent report by the credit rating company CRISIL has revealed that the cost for the first phase of the project has seen a steep 50 per cent hike.
As against earlier estimates of around Rs 8,500 crore along with the pre-development work, the first phase is now likely to cost Rs 13,000 crore. The GVK group, which has tied up funding for the project with YES Bank as lead lender, has been accorded an A+ stable rating for the project's Rs 10,300 crore bank loan facilities by the CRISIL.
While there have been no official comments on the escalated prices, sources have cited several reasons for the price escalation like the inflation. Some feel that the cost estimates of Rs 16,000 crore were made in 2012 and hence, they needed to be revised. However, others have put the blame on the delay in the project. Though, there has been no official word on this, sources also said that the estimated cost of the project is likely to reach Rs 25,000 crore instead of current Rs 16,000 crore.(EOM)