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GVK in race for Navi Mumbai airport project

The GVK Group, which operates the Mumbai International Airport, will bid for the Navi Mumbai Airport, a senior GVK official told FE.

The GVK Group, which operates the Mumbai International Airport, will bid for the Navi Mumbai Airport, a senior GVK official told FE. The Hyderabad-based group holds the first right of refusal for the development of the proposed airport in Navi Mumbai.

Other infrastructure companies like Larsen & Toubro and Reliance Infrastructure are also said to be interested in bidding for the project.

If GVK?s bid falls short of the highest bid by 10% or less, it will have the right to revise its offer to match the top bid to operate the airport.

Maharashtra government had recently approved a feasibility study for an alternate site for the airport, which will be conducted on an island located 1.5-2 km from Panvel Creek, after locals resisted its land acquisition drive. However, this hasn?t put brakes on the plans as the government still continues to negotiate with the resenting villagers.

?Letters are being sent to the sarpanchs of the villages, who haven?t agreed to our compensation package,? said Sanjay Bhatia, vice-chairman and managing director, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the nodal agency for the Navi Mumbai International Airport project. ?We are on the course to float Requests for Qualification for the construction of the airport by early December,? he added.

CIDCO has already acquired about 1,570 hectares of the total 2,268 hectares required for the airport project. About, 671 hectares of private land, coming under the boundaries of villages like Pargaon, Dungi, Kohli, Ovla, Upper Ovla, is still to be acquired.

Villagers are demanding for a compensation for the allocation of 35% developed land, compared with the state government?s offer of 22.5% developed land, in addition to about R6.25 crore per hectare.

?We will not be negotiating further with the villagers on the compensation,? Bhatia recently told FE. ?The latest offer is also the final one.?

The first phase of the R14,574-crore Navi Mumbai airport project, which was first put on paper 27 years ago, is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, if the remaining 671 hectares of private land is acquired by the government without major glitches.

If negotiations are successful, over 5,000 families affected by the project will be given rehabilitation plots in a proposed 170-hectare new township called Pushpak Nagar.

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First published on: 23-11-2013 at 05:01 IST
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