Events & Issues

New Delhi, 27 September 2010

Navi Mumbai Airport Debate

ENVIROMENT MINISTER: UNTENABLE

By Proloy Bagchi

Economic growth is the new deity in India at the altar of which everything has to be offered. Whether it is natural resources, the natural world, the environment etc, everything has to be sacrificed for the new obsession with “Growth”. The word connotes development and progress which, in our context, is limitless and endless.

Something of this kind has become apparent in regard to Mumbai’s second airport which has for some time been a subject of public discourse and inter-ministerial squabbles at the national level. Mumbai’s second airport is proposed to be located in Navi Mumbai about 35 kms away from the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA).

Its proponent, Mumbai’s City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) contends that enhancement of aviation facilities for Mumbai has become absolutely essential as the existing airport is fast reaching saturation level.  Besides, a second airport is needed for retaining the leadership of Maharashtra in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), thereby “creating a place of pride for itself and add to the prosperity of its people”.

According to CIDCO’s website, the new airport, to be built under public-private partnership, is expected to “absorb” the future growth in population, business and commercial activity of the region. CIDCO also thinks that availability of physical and social infrastructure coupled with “environmental friendly site” makes the Navi Mumbai airport viable in every respect.

Further, the growth in the resident population in Navi Mumbai, rapid development of its Central Business District, along with economic activities in the Special Economic Zone, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Thane-Belapur and Taloja industrial areas and the huge catchment area ranging from Pune to South Mumbai would assure a steady growth in traffic.

It is expected to cater to 20 million passengers by 2020, 30 million in 2025 and ultimately 40 million by 2030. It is going to be one of the world’s few “greenfield”, state-of-the-art airports offering world class facilities to passengers, cargo and airlines. Needless to mention, the Maharashtra Government had given prompt approval to the proposal.

That Mumbai is already bursting at its seams is, apparently, of no concern to the promoters. It is already the most populous city in India and the second most populous city in the world with 14 million people huddled within its seven islands. Along with the neighbouring urban areas of Navi Mumbai, Thane, etc. it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world.

As regards the quality of life Mumbai offers to its citizens, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Corporation’s Environment Status Report 2009-2010, released on 3 September, reveals the presence of the highly carcinogenic chemical, benzo (a) pyrene, has increased eight-fold. Benzo (a) pyrene is a component of chemicals called poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and is emitted from automobile exhaust, tar, combustion of organic materials such as wood and coal.

The report also discloses a jump in the presence of other PAHs, which taken together, are potent air pollutants and have been identified as “carcinogenic and mutagenic”. The BMC attributes the rise in these carcinogenic pollutants to, inter alia, increased construction and rapid industrialisation. And, yet CIDCO would like more construction and further industrial growth.

The CIDCO also stated that the new airport had been proposed at an “environment-friendly site”. Nothing could be farther from truth. Importantly, the Environment & Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh has objected to the proposal for the new airport on several counts. One, it would lead to the displacement of about 400 acres of mangrove forests which protect Mumbai’s fragile coastline against flash floods, serve as hatching grounds for fish and also act as a natural purifier of air. Already massive destruction of mangroves has taken place near the suburb of Dahisar.

Besides, no lessons seem to have been learnt from the yearly floods, especially those in 2005, which were largely caused by the diversion of the Mithi River to facilitate building of the existing airport 50 years ago. Overlooking history, CIDCO has proposed diversion of not one but two rivers to accommodate the airport.

More. The building of the proposed airport would also require levelling of an 80 metre high hill that, environmentalists aver, raises “significant coastal zone management issues”. They also feel that the new airport, unless artificially raised by 7 or 8 metres, would be vulnerable to high tides.

Further, Mumbai’s existing CSI Airport was rated only this year by the Airports Council International as the best in the country among those that handle 15 million or more passengers. Globally too, it has improved its rating from 87 to 23. Reports also point to slots available even now which have been rejected by some foreign airlines.

In fact, the Civil Aviation Ministry is considering a crack-down on delayed flights to decongest the Mumbai and Delhi airports. If even after these measures are taken the Airport reaches a point of saturation one could certainly use the nearby international airports of Goa, Ahmedabad and Pune, all of which could be modernised and expanded. Given that Pune city has been cited to be in the catchment of the proposed Navi Mumbai Airport but there is no proposal for the expansion of its airport.

Clearly, the proposal for Mumbai’s second airport in Navi Mumbai is entirely driven by “growth,” of passenger and cargo traffic, industry, international trade and commerce, FDI and the locals “pride” and “prosperity.” On the premise that passenger traffic would touch 40 million by 2030. Will CIDCO propose a third airport for Mumbai thereafter to decongest traffic? Perhaps, Mumbai feels let down following Delhi’s new “world class” airport.

Undoubtedly, the time has come when authorities in Mumbai and Delhi must cry a halt to all growth, be satisfied with what they have and strive to improve upon it. As India’s economic growth has a strong relationship with enrichment of the rich and the rise in poverty levels, hunger and under-nourishment. Particularly, the bigger the city, greater are the problems for its poor.

True, Mumbai is the richest city in the country with the highest GDP but it is also correct that over 50% of its population is living in slums in sub-human conditions. Thus, for the well-being of its citizens and environment issues the proposal for Mumbai’s second international airport appears untenable. ---- INFA

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