Mumbai, July 16 : The much-awaited Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will be commissioned by March 31, 2025, with the completion of two phases with 20 million passengers handling capacity per annum.









'Currently, about 65 per cent of the work is completed including one runway,' said the Union Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation Muralidhar Mohol who last week visited the airport site along with the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation (Independent Charge) Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu.



'The airport will be operational in March next year and it will further increase the connectivity for Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Pune and Western Maharashtra. The airport is quite ideally located. The first two phases will handle two crore (20 million) passengers annually with one terminal and one runway. Various agencies are currently engaged for the completion of two phases and the Centre is resolved for its commissioning by March 2025,' MoS Mohol said.



The cost for the completion of the first and second phases is estimated at Rs 19,646 crore.



MoS Mohol said that the third phase with 30 million passengers handling capacity annually is expected to be operational by 2028-29 and the fourth phase with 20 million and the fifth phase with 20 million passengers handling capacity annually will be completed by 2023.



'After the completion of all these phases, the airport can handle 90 million (9 crore) passengers annually. The airport will then have two runways and four terminals,' he said.



The two phases will handle .8 million metric tonnes of cargo annually and after the completion of all phases, the airport can handle cargo of 2.6 million metric tonnes annually.



MoS Mohol's statement is crucial as the former Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had earlier said that the airport is on track to commence operation by the end of March 2025, adding that it will be connected through multimodal connectivity through rail, road, metro and ultimately waterways.



The airport will be equipped with solar power plants capable of generating 36MW p/a after the completion of the entire project.



The airport is being developed under the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) model with a 40-year concession period. The state-run City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is a nodal agency for the execution of the project. The airport is being built through a public-private partnership between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Maharashtra government together with Mumbai International Airports Ltd (MIAL), which holds 74 per cent of the equity.



Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who had visited the airport site last year, is personally keeping an eye on the development. In addition, the CM's War Room, which has been operational for the last two years to review the status of various infrastructure projects in the state, is also preparing its periodic reports on airport development.



The Chief Minister had expected that the first plane would need to take off in September this year.



He has said that the government is making all efforts to further strengthen the airport connectivity through road, metro rail, and suburban railways.



The airport connects the Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1 and the Mumbai Metro Line 8.



Further, the airport is going to the starting point of the Mumbai-Hyderabad high-speed rail corridor. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has already commissioned the 22 km Mumbai Trans Harbour Link which provides easy access to the airport from mainland Mumbai.



Meanwhile, MoS Mohol said that issues raised by the villagers, whose lands have been acquitted from the airport, will be addressed through talks with the airport management.



'They (villagers) will not be displaced but they will be paid a due compensation,' the MoS said.



He added that the Centre is positive about naming the airport after the noted leader D.B. Patil.



(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

/IANS