MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai International Airport is likely to miss the December 2019 deadline set for first take off. The deadline is likely to be extended at least by three months, as people of 10 villages in the project's core area haven't vacated their homes as yet.
Even though, the City and Industries Development Corporation (CIDCO) has agreed to give a special incentive of Rs 500 per sq ft to the villagers in return for agreeing to demolish their houses by November 7 and promised to pay the rent even in case of developer constructing new houses for them, the villagers haven't vacated their houses as yet.
Out of around 3,000 affected families in the 10 villages who need to be displaced, only a third have shifted as yet. While the CIDCO had expected the villagers to move out after monsoon, three deadlines to do so have had to be extended since July.
Of the 2,268-hectare land needed for the development of the first green-field international airport in the country, 671 hectares would be free after relocation of the project affected people (PAP) in these 10 villages. Those set to be displaced have also accepted the package for relocation. However, the process is getting delayed as some of the small demands of the PAP have not been met as yet. While people from four of the ten villages are not ready to move due to reasons like non-payment of rents, people from three other villages have demanded relocation after experiencing flooding during monsoon due to land filling activity for the airstrip.
According to a senior CIDCO official, while almost 60 per cent of the land filling activity for the first phase has been completed, around 45 hectares of the 500-hectare land required for the first phase, remains to be acquired.
This has hampered work in the first phase and the CIDCO officials are looking for possibilities of clearing the area by December to be able to make the first phase operational by March 2020.