The Navi Mumbai airport is an absolute must for the infrastructure of a planned city, said Rajesh Prajapati, President of the Raigad unit of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry.

Regarding the delay in land acquisition, Prajapati made an appeal to all stake-holders, including the local political party leaders and the Government, to sort out the issue. The airport has been proposed to be launched in Raigad district.

There are reports that the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is apprehensive that the airport project could turn unviable due to cost escalation. The cost is said to have more than tripled from initial estimates of about Rs 5,000 crore.

Welcoming CIDCO Vice-Chairman Sanjay Bhatia’s compensation package to the project affected people (PAP), who have been offered 22 per cent of developed land, cash up to Rs 20 crore a hectare and a resettlement urban colony for over 1,200 families, he said, “I think this the best that any planning and development authority can do.”

“We as a developer community are concerned over the talk that the airport project could be shifted elsewhere in the State in view of the land acquisition problems. Navi Mumbai, as a city, cannot afford to miss out on the airport,” he said.

The entire area surrounding the proposed airport is bound to witness a boom with a potential of generating large scale employment, he added.

shanker.s@thehindu.co.in