Rs.2000 crore to flatten a hill, but would that amount create one afresh?

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I am not an engineer, cannot assess value of construction, cost of projects etc., But this bit of news in the morning paper caught me by surprise.

“The tender for hill cutting is worth around Rs 2,000 crore. The first two parts of the tender, said to be around Rs 550 crore, was repackaged owing to change in engineering works and design for combining the cutting and diversion of the Ulwe river. This part is currently under tendering process. The other two parts have been finalised.”  From TOI’s repot on ground work having started at the Navi Mumbai Airport site.

Is it normal to include a whopping 2000 crore rupees to cut a hill to make way for the airpot? How much would that add to our “airport maintenance charges” or “user charges” per ticket? Does cutting the hill not yield any granite? Does 2000 crore include the value of granite to be mined? Or is it just the cost to cut and dispose the quarried stones?

It is not unusual for big ticket projects in India being held hostage to environment lobbies. But, there is a need to differentiate between reasonable objections, environmental and project costs and also commercial need for a new airport at Navi Mumbai.

Some years ago, I had met the then environment minister Jairam Ramesh at an event in Mumbai. He asked me if a Navi Mumbai resident I was in support of the airport project or not. I said I am against it. God save Navi Mumbai, you have a Ganesh Naik, he quipped. That was pretty candid and he followed up this conversation with a surprising SMS days later, once again asking if I was still against the project. I haven’t changed my views on the airport for all the ten, twelve years of living in Navi Mumbai.

As a lay person why do I object to the airport, after all it might lift Navi Mumbai from being a dormitory to a metropolis, and bring many more facilities apart from the convenience of having an airport nearby.

One, I have been seeing Navi Mumbai property prices go up from an average of Rs.1500/sq.ft to Rs.15,000/sq.ft. Much of this increase has happened with little or no convenience emerging, but only an added cost of having an airport at some stage and a trans-harbour link. I still see the airport project as being a brainchild, for and by the builder lobby.

Second, nestled in the western ghats, the Panvel belt is green, full of cultivable lands, with good water source for cultivation. Plus it has marshland, mangroves, and even a notified bird sanctuary close-by. Objections have been raised by environmentalists as the airport would fall within 16-km radius, which is not done for a notified bird sanctuary.

The project is not only anti-environment, but may even endanger the airport – God forbid a Mithi river kind of a situation or flights encountering bird hits with a thriving Karnala bird sanctuary nearby, Uran wetlands not faraway which attracts thousands of migratory birds every winter.
Finally going back to where I started, is it alright to spend Rs.2000 crore to flatten a hill and build an airport.


My hunch is the moment Navi Mumbai airport is done, the slums around Mumbai airport would be cleared and real estate developers would move in. Whatever eviction that is not possible now to expand the existing airport now, would become possible later. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are not cities, but hostages to the real estate lobbies. 

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