Navi Mumbai airport project misses bird hit, readies for take off

Just days after denying eco clearance to Mumbai' s crucial INR 11,000-cr Mumbai Trans Harbor project, the Prakash Javadekar-led Environment Ministry has now shown its more benevolent side by making a key exception for the proposed Navi Mumbai international airport.

In a strange turn of events, the ministry has waived an earlier stipulation that required the airport project developers to build a mangrove sanctuary for the area's bird population, and has now sought suggestions from the developers on ways and means to make the designated mangrove area which adjoins the proposed airport site, 'unattractive' to the winged species.

It may be recalled that this multi-crore project was finally accorded environmental clearance way back in 2010 after several rounds of protracted negotiations, followed by a wildlife approval two year later in 2013, pending the development of a mangrove sanctuary in the area adjoining the airport.

The site for the proposed airport is located just about 8.5 kms from the popular Karnala Wildlife Sanctuary and as such requires a wildlife clearance as mandated by the Supreme Court, since it's within 10 kms of a protected area.

However the City & Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), which is the project developer for the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) project requested the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) to grant a waiver to this requirement, backed by the new BJP-led state government and a study conducted by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) to back its argument.

The 2,500-hectare plot in Panvel earmarked for the Navi Mumbai airport project and approx 10-12 zone surrounding it is rich in mangroves and attracts thousands of birds, including locks of migratory flamingos. The BNHS study had pointed this fact to the NBWL committee and shed light on the potential threat of bird hits on aircrafts operating out of the new airport.

Two years later, with a new government now at the helm of affairs at the Centre, the NBWL which is the apex wildlife-related clearance body at the Centre in its meeting held in the first week of June, had agreed to set aside its earlier requirement for the mangrove sanctuary near the site.

The reason being cited is that a congregation of birds so close to the airport could seriously endanger aircraft and passenger safety, after giving due consideration to the state government's decision to declare an alternative site - Thane Creek - as a flamingo sanctuary for conservation.

The NBWL standing committee also noted the suggestion in the BNHS study which suggested that the adjoining NMIA site should be made unattractive for birds in view of aircraft safety, human safety and airport safety.

Interestingly this exemption for the Navi Mumbai airport project comes within days of the green clearance granted by the ministry for the state's ambitious Mumbai Coastal Road project.

Since being announced in 2007, the airport project has been rattled by a series of delays because of issues of land acquisition from villages that led to a lot of skepticism from infra development companies.
 
Supposed to be completed by 2015 and now only likely to be ready by December 2018, this INR 14,573-cr project, planned as an alternative to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport located across the Mumbai suburbs of Santa Cruz and Andheri, is likely to be completed in four phases.

On completion the airport will span an area of 2,867 acres with a terminal building spanning approx 5,23,000 square meters and two runways.

Wildlife protection agencies like the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) have come out in full support for the exemption granted to the project, stating that in this particular case granting a waiver was paramount for reasons of passengers and flight safety since mangroves attract a considerable number of birds which posed the danger of a major mishap.

Sharing his perspective on the issue, WII director VB Mathur noted that both airlines and airports across the country were investing a huge amount of resources to minimize this risk. He further added that while the importance of mangroves could not be understated, since the decision to build an airport had been taken, it had to be facilitated.

The exemption has also caused a surge of optimism within the state's forest department which has welcomed the news. The department is already developing a sanctuary spread across 19 kms near Thane Creek in keeping with its environment protection and conservation efforts and had voiced fears that the creation of another sanctuary in the vicinity of the proposed airport could prove to be dangerous for aircrafts flying overhead.