The first flight to take off from the new Navi Mumbai international airport may still be a few years away, but it has already severely impacted the construction industry.
About 150 approved building projects in Navi Mumbai around a 20-km radius from the upcoming airport are in a limbo as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has restricted their heights to just 55 metres (12-15 floors).
The radar positioning of the airport has not been fixed but the blanket restriction has hit areas which were earlier not affected. In 2019, Cidco had cleared many projects with heights of up to 120-130 metres (about 40 storeys) in Taloja, Sanpada and Vashi. But with the AAI’s new restriction of up to 55 m, builders can only construct 14-16 floors.
The online NOC system and the colour code zoning map (based on which building height permissions were given depending on the distance from the airport) has been withdrawn. Now every plot owner, even those who want to build a bungalow, need to apply for an NOC.
Several buildings are already completed with the earlier height clearances. But now, the AAI insists that new clearances be taken only up to 55 m. If the project is built up to say 70 m then the upper floors suddenly become unauthorized and Cidco does not give the occupation certificate.
“NOCs were issued to more than 1,500 projects within the 20-km radius from January 2021 till date. All these projects have received height approvals of less than 55 m. Even if we assume that 10% of these projects need higher heights, we can safely assume that more than 150 projects are affected,” said Kunal Chheda, partner at Awas Advisors, a real estate research and advisory firm.
In Navi Mumbai, Cidco used to issue height certificates to developers till about a year ago. Later, the airport was handed over to the Adani Group and AAI took away the powers from Cidco for issuing the certificates and stopped the process. After a few months, they started issuing certificates but with a 55. 1 m maximum cap.
Height restriction of 55 m has affected projects from Nerul to Panvel although the floor space index (FSI) allowed is much higher. These projects are not viable with such contradictions inpolicies. Even projects in the Koparkhairane-Airoli nodes which are not under the airport funnel have been affected.
