First phase of Navi Mumbai airport by 2019-end: Fadnavis

Stating that the first phase of the much-delayed Navi Mumbai airport project will commence by December 2019, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said his government would issue a letter of intent (LoI) as awarding the contract is a “matter of time” now.

He also said the pre-developmental works for the ambitious project will be completed by May next year. The CM’s statement assumes significance as award of the LoI is considered as an important step in taking the project forward, which is dogged by inordinate delays since its conception in 1997.

Infrastructure major GVK group had bagged the financial bid to build and operate the second international airport in the Mumbai metropolitan region at an investment of ~16,000 crore earlier this year, beating rival GMR group.

However, the project couldn’t make any progress as the state government has not yet approved and finalised the finance deal won by the GVK. Once the government gives its nod, a letter of award will be given to the contractor, after which a special purpose vehicle (SPV) can be set up to execute the project.

There are two phases of Navi Mumbai airport. One phase is the pre-works in which you have to level the land, cut a hill and you have to change the course of the river. So these are the predevelopment works which we have awarded the contract and they have already started the work.