Promise of plot raises MIAL’s integrated terminal hopes

Air India officials categorically denied that they had yielded to any pressure to give up a portion of the land without accepting appropriate compensation. Air India owns over 200 acres of land in Sahar,Kalina and Santa Cruz areas of the airport.

“We have given the land as central government has approved the construction of the terminal II. The infrastructure of Air India is situated next to the proposed terminal,” said Arvind Jadhav,CMD,Air India. Jadhav also said had Air India not given the required piece of land to MIAL,the construction of the integrated terminal would have been delayed. “Even we want a good terminal at the airport.”

Senior AI officials said that the airlines had refused to sign a comprehensive MoU as MIAL didn’t offer them a good compensation. According to a senior AI official,the airline’s primary concern was to get Floor Space Index in return for the plot of land. “The money that can be realised from the FSI will be enough for us to bail out the company,” he said.

Meanwhile,MIAL officials said the requirement for the Sahar land was immediate and negotiations are on for the plots of land that house Air India’s offices. “Till we reach an agreement with Air India,I would not be able to comment,” said MIAL’s spokesperson Manish Kalghatgi.

“We have reduced the problem into two parts. The first part consists of immediate areas that can hinder the phase-I of the airport development and need to be addressed immediately. The second part consists of areas that are required for the completion of the second phase,” said Jadhav.