gopalakrishna

The government is expecting to complete the bidding for the proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport by March next year.

"We hope that the bidding of the proposed Navi Mumbai airport will be completed by March, 2009," a top Civil Aviation Ministry source said.

The new airport, which is to come up at Kopra-Panvel area, is being built through PPP route, with private sector partner getting 74 per cent equity while Airports Authority of India and Govt of Maharashtra through City and Industrial Development Corporation holding 13 per cent each.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has already given techno-feasibility clearance to the proposed airport, which will be located on National Highway NH 4B near Panvel, about 35 km from the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport in Mumbai.

The airport construction is at global tendering stage. The land required is about 11.4 sq km for the core airport activity and will have two parallel runways each 4,500 metres long.

The cost of the project is estimated at between Rs 3,200 crore and Rs 4,000 crore. The airport will have a terminal area of 250,000 sq metre and a cargo area of 100,000 sq metre and handle 50-55 million passengers annually.

__________________
[SIZE="2"][/size]