Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on 8 June announced that the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) is on track to open for air traffic by 2024 and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate it.
The remarks came during an aerial inspection of the site by Shinde along deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Following the inspection, a presentation was made by the Adani Group, which is executing the project.
“Work on Navi Mumbai International Airport is expected to be completed by 2024. During the review, we have been told that the completion would be around December 2024, but I have instructed to complete it before that,” CM Shinde said.
“As PM Modi had laid the foundation stone of Samruddhi Expressway and he only dedicated it to the public, the foundation stone of the Navi Mumbai Airport was laid by PM Modi only and the inauguration of the airport will also be done by the PM,” Shinde added.
Shinde said that the inspection was done on Wednesday to ensure that the airport opens on its planned schedule and added that the state government will provide all necessary help to sort out the hurdles in the ongoing work.
Second Airport in Mumbai
Mumbai — the financial capital of India, and the capital city of the state of Maharashtra, forms the largest urban center within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
With a set of two cross runways, the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) at its peak handled 4.8 crore passengers per annum before Covid struck in March 2020.
NMIA, which will be the second airport in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), will address the capacity constraints at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
The new airport would shake up the demand-supply dynamics by adding 40 per cent more passenger handling capacity overnight to the MMR region.
Conceived in 1999, the work of Navi Mumbai Airport started in 2017.
The project is being implemented by Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL), which is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with equity participation of Adani Airport Holdings Limited (AAHL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited and CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation), in 74:26 ratio.
In March 2022, Adani Enterprises achieved financial closure for the development of the greenfield project, with the public sector lender, State Bank of India (SBI), underwriting the entire debt requirement of Rs 12,770 crore for the project.
Adani Group is also looking to make Navi Mumbai International Airport, the most digitised airport in the world.
“We are creating a roadmap to make every single airport 4.0 with automation, AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning, metaverse,” said Arun Bansal, chief executive officer, Adani Airport Holdings Limited.
Last year, the Adani Group successfully acquired 5G telecommunication spectrum and will utilise the same for enterprise applications across its businesses.
Details
- Spread over an area of 11.4 km
- Two runways
- Four terminals, with a capacity to accommodate 42 aircraft
- Space for 5,500 car parking
- Connectivity through the 22-kilometer-long under-construction Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL)