CIDCO Hopeful About Solving NAINA Land Acquisition Issue Soon

Talking about the various aspects of upcoming infrastructure projects in the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), top officials of CIDCO have told that the airport land acquisition issue will hopefully be sorted within this month or next. According to the officials, finalizing the land for airport is currently the top priority.

The land acquisition problem

The biggest challenge the Navi Mumbai International Airport is facing is with respect to land acquisition. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) is currently negotiating land acquisition terms with the land owners whose lands are to be acquired for constructing the airport and its influence notified area. CIDCO and the Maharashtra state government agreed to offer a compensation of 22.5% developed land instead of the regular 12.5% to the project affected people (PAP). This is the highest compensation ever for land acquisition in India.

However, the farmers are demanding 35% developed land to be given on a net basis because compensation as they believe that anything less than that would be a loss to them. The city development body still needs to acquire 25% land from Panvel villagers for beginning the airport related work.

Infrastructure plans in the airport influence area

Apart from offering 22.5% developed land to the farmers and land owners, CIDCO is also contemplating to provide other facilities. It is looking at comprehensively rehabilitating the PAPs and giving them land in Pushpak Nagar, which is close to the airport area. CIDCO also believes that the Rs. 4,000-5,000 crore investment in developing the airport will provide enough opportunities for the youth to get jobs in hospitality and other industries.

The development authority also has bigger plans for providing quality training to locals. For example, CIDCO is planning to sign a deal with the Taj Group in a few days for providing quality training. It is contemplating few more tie-ups in the telecommunication sector for giving value-added training in the future. It is also trying to ensure that most big contracts for developing the airport are given to locals. The state governments intends to acquire land only for major infrastructure projects while doing the actual development with the participation of the locals. With these provisions, the state government and CIDCO are hopeful of arriving at an early solution for the land acquisition problem.

From a real estate perspective, the airport will affect the property prices in areas such as Panvel and Ulwe, as both in proximity to the airport. The property values in Panvel are an average of Rs. 4,000 per sq.ft and Rs. 4,400 per sq.ft in Ulwe. Capital values in both areas are on the rise in anticipation of the airport.