login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Tarik Cyril Amar
Daoud Kuttab
Jason Hickel
Yossi Klein Halevi
Rachel Marsden
Andrew Silow-Carroll
Mikhail Salita
Stefano Lusa
Belen Fernandez
Constantin Von Hoffmeister
Opinion | Navi Mumbai International Airport: A Shining Example Of Modi-Fadnavis Political Resolve
As the clock ticks towards October 8, 2025, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), the project stands as a powerful symbol of unwavering political commitment. This greenfield airport, poised to become the second gateway for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), has risen from decades of bureaucratic inertia and local resistance to embody the decisive leadership of PM Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. What began as a visionary idea in the late 1990s has been fast-tracked into reality through their combined efforts, transforming a stalled dream into a catalyst for economic renaissance.
The NMIA’s story is one of contrasts—prolonged delays under previous regimes juxtaposed against the accelerated momentum under the BJP-led governments. Conceived in November 1997 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to address the growing congestion at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), the project gained initial traction in the early 2000s. By September 2000, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) had submitted a feasibility report proposing parallel runways at a site near Panvel in Navi Mumbai.
In July 2008, under the Congress-NCP coalition government in Maharashtra, the state approved the development on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis, with CIDCO as the nodal agency. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) granted clearance in May 2008, and by late 2010, defence approvals were in place, envisioning a facility to handle 50-55 million passengers annually at an initial cost of Rs 47.66 billion. However, the project languished for years under the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and the Congress-NCP dispensation in Maharashtra.
From 2010 to 2013, it was stalled primarily due to protracted land acquisition negotiations with farmers in the 10 affected villages, requiring the relocation of 2,786 households—many of them fishermen and smallholders. Environmental concerns, including........
© News18
visit website