The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has been given control over 80 of the 174 villages that were previously under the Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) project. The state's Urban Development Department (UDD) made this decision public in a notification on March 4.
The decision is in line with the recent launch of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), also known as Atal Setu.
According to reports, MMRDA is responsible for planning and developing this coastal route. Hence, the government found it fitting to transfer the development rights of the surrounding villages to MMRDA.
Earlier, a total of 174 villages were given to the CIDCO, which is the Special Planning Authority (SPA) of NAINA. Now CIDCO will have 94 villages to deal with.
The MMRDA will also develop the Khopta township, also known as Third Mumbai. But, it is yet to be seen if these 113 villages, 80 from NAINA and 33 from Khopta township, will be developed by the New Town Development Authority (NTDA) or Special Planning Authority (SPA). An official order from the UDD on this is awaited.
Meanwhile, CIDCO continues to lead the development of the remaining 94 villages in NAINA. NAINA is located 25 km away from the coming Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). CIDCO has completed 12 town planning schemes (TPS) for NAINA. Infrastructure development for TPS 1 is done and TPS 2–8 will be completed soon.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has placed a condition on CIDCO for the NMIA. The condition asks for a review and recast of Navi Mumbai's development plan in light of the airport's development.
The project suggests a land-pooling system. This system will include villagers pooling their land. Of this, 60% of land will be used for infrastructure development and the remaining 40% will be returned to the villagers with 2.5 FSI. No money will be given to the villagers as compensation.