Mumbai: The controversial Navi Mumbai Air Port Project has been formally accorded the environmental clearance, Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said at a joint press conference on Monday.
He was accompanied by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
Ramesh said, “From the environmental point of view, this has been a very major compromise that has been reached between the Ministry of Environment and Forests, CIDCO and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Today there are 161 hectares of mangroves in the Air Port Project Area."
"We have got Agreement that before the project is commissioned, 678 hector of mangrove plantation would be developed around the Air Port area. It is a four fold increase in the area of the mangroves in Navi Mumbai,” he said.
Ramesh said the concerns of the Ministry of Environment & Forests have been met "100 percent".
The distance between two runways is being reduced from 1-8 km to 1.55 kms, the river Gadhi will not be diverted due to this.
The Ulwe water body will be re-coursed. It is tidally – influenced water body, not a river.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests has stipulated to minimize the adverse impacts. Regarding other concerns the Environment Minister said, “The 90 meter high hill will need to be removed to enable smooth access to the runways. It has already been quarried so the ecological value of the hill is virtually zero.
Ministry of Environment and Forests has put 32 conditions for environmental clearance.”
Ramesh said that the Process of constructing environmentally safe, an ecologically sound, energy efficient international Airport at Mumbai can start now selecting the private sector partner.
He also appealed to the Maharashtra Chieh Minister to develop the Juhu airport as a green lung for Mumbai city. Any construction activity should not be allowed at Juhu airport, he added.
Praful Patel welcomed the speedy disposal of the long pending proposal and said, “This is very important for civil aviation growth of the country and the economy of Maharashtra and entire country. The civil aviation Ministry was very concerned about lack of facilities of the Mumbai Airport. There were difficulties in expanding the current airport of Mumbai.”
Responding to environmental conditions Patel said, “It is our joint responsibility to address all issues of environment. There is no compromise."
"The issues of mangrove transplantation and regeneration in adjoining areas will act as a bigger and better buffer than what the current mangrove cover is giving to this part of the Navi Mumbai Area. Significance steps have been taken and I can assure all 32 corrective measurers for implementation of the project will be taken up,” Patel said.
Prithviraj Chavan said, “This is a classic example of working together for all mega projects. When environmental concerns were raised, 17 alternate sites were proposed but after six joint meetings, one site visit of environmental experts and long negotiations and discussions, this site was finalized and we agreed to all environmental conditions imposed by Ministry of Environment and Forests."
"We can not give up environmental cause. This is an example of how development and environmental protection and sustainability can go hand in hand," he said.