8-member panel to speed up Navi Mumbai airport

The development of the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), a victim of policy paralysis and various clearances issues over the past few years, is likely to gather momentum at last as the Centre has set up the NMIA Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC) to ensure speedy approvals and expedite the implementation of the project.

The chief secretary will be the chairman of the committee, with senior officials from the state government as well as the Centre making up the remaining members of the PMIC.

The managing director and joint managing director of CIDCO are part of the team.

"Now, the committee will ensure speedy approvals in case of various clearances and documents," a senior CIDCO official, who did not wish to be named, said. "Since the committee will have officials from the departments concerned at the Centre, a significant amount of time will be saved and, consequently, it will ensure speedy implementation of the NMIA project, which is running three to four years behind schedule."

So far, CIDCO would approach the Centre through the state government to seek approvals for various documents and clearances, which was a time-consuming exercise.

As the new committee will have officials from both the state and the Centre, it will ensure speedy approvals for project documents and other project development activities like land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement of project-affected villagers and utility relocation, among other things. The committee will also conduct and evaluate the bidding process and make recommendations to the state cabinet for awarding the contract for the project to the successful bidder.

"The committee has just been set up and all its members are going to meet next month," the CIDCO official said. "The first thing tat is likely to be taken up for discussion is approval for the RFQ documents, which is necessary for land acquisition."

The steering committee will work under the supervision of the secretary (civil aviation).

CIDCO managing director Tanaji Satre was optimistic about the speedy implementation of the project as a result of the development.

"The committee has been set to expedite the NMIA project and we expect it will ensure speedy approval in the case of various clearances and project documents," Satre said. "But we will have to take the Centre's approval for some issues."