The Navi Mumbai International Airport has been conceptualised as the eighth largest in the world, spread over an area of 1160 hectares to handle 60 million passengers a year and at an estimated cost of Rs 14,500 crore. Mumbai's dreams of becoming the first city in the world to boast of two airports never took off as the city developer CIDCO was unable to acquire land from farmers. But this all is set to change, reports CNBC-TV18’s Alexander Mathew.
According to CIDCO, the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project has four good bids now.
“We have Vinci, Zurich airport, then GVK, GMR. So all these four are pretty good guys and their offers are now getting technically examined. By mid-April we should know who all qualify. After that they have to submit their RFP --the proposal, the bid which they are making, which is a percentage of gross revenue to be given to CIDCO. We will be giving them three-four months time to make that offer. So my expectation is that we should be able to finalise the partner by December-end,” said Sanjay Bhatia, Vice-Chairman & MD, CIDCO.
The development of Mumbai's second airport is likely to go up by Rs 550 cr as Budget 2015 removed the service tax exemption on the construction of greenfield airports. Neverthless, CIDCO is moving ahead, and has begun issuing tenders for civil work at the site of the proposed airport. This pre-development work is estimated to cost around Rs 2,400 crore, and is likely to begin after monsoons this year. So what does this mean for residential prices in the vicinity of the upcoming airport?
Prices in areas like Panvel, Belapur, Kharghar and Ulwe surged around four years back when the project was announced.
In the case of Kharghar, prices have risen from Rs 3,000 a square foot to around Rs 9,000 now. In Panvel, they have risen from below Rs 3,000 a square foot to around Rs 7,000.
Real estate consultant CBRE believes prices won't escalate that much once construction of the airport starts. One reason being the airport has already been factored into the current prices. Secondly, the new development plan for Mumbai is likely to contain a significant increase in the FSI. This could lead to an increase in supply of cheaper housing within the city over the next three years, and it will put downward pressure on prices both in Mumbai and in Navi Mumbai.
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