Mumbai: Union civil aviation secretary R.N. Choubey held a review meeting on the Navi Mumbai airport with State chief secretary Sumit Malik, and officials from the aviation ministry, the Airports Authority of India, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday.
The civil aviation ministry and the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIAL), who bid for the project, signed an initial agreement to avail of the reserved services such as air traffic management, customs control, immigration, security, and meteorological services.
GVK Power and Infrastructure had in January signed a concession agreement with the CIDCO, the town planning authority, to create a special purpose vehicle, NMIAL, for developing the airport. GVK, through its subsidiary, Mumbai International Airport, holds 74% stake in the NMIAL, while the CIDCO has 26%.
The initial concession period is 30 years from the appointed date which could be extended for 10 years.
As per the memorandum of understanding signed by Mr. Choubey and G.V. K. Reddy, chairman, NMIAL, a joint coordination committee is being set up with representatives of all the agencies concerned, to ensure smooth rendering of the reserved services.
The foundation stone for the ₹16,000-crore greenfield airport was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 18. The airport will be spread across 1,160 hectares, and is planned for a minimum capacity of 60 million passengers per annum, with the first phase is pegged at 10 million passengers annually. “Both the authority and the concessionaire are moving expeditiously with all the mandatory activities such as master plan finalisation, financial closure, appointment of independent engineer, and execution of all clauses as per the concession agreement. The financial closure will have to be achieved in 180 days,” a senior civil aviation ministry official said.
