Pritha Pahari | December 2, 2022
11 of the 34 stalled and abandoned airport projects in India are due to land acquisition problems
Land acquisition remains a major concern for stalled and abandoned airport projects as acquirers refuse to pay higher compensation.
At least 11 of the 34 stalled airport projects in India have been stalled due to difficulty in acquiring land, according to data by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LAAR) Act in 2013 states that compensation for the acquired land shall be four times the market value for rural areas and twice for urban areas.
Airport development does not mean that the poor should suffer, said Mahesh Vyas, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of CMIE. Industrialists and government are unwilling to
pay higher compensation to the people affected by the acquisition which gets the project
stuck, added Vyas.
For example, the Rs 800 crore Coimbatore Airport Modernisation and Upgradation Airport Project is stalled as the authorities could not procure land. The Rs 500 crore Ambavaram Commercial Airport Project and Rs 2,000 crore Aranmula International Airport Project have been abandoned due to similar concerns.
Number of Stalled Airport Projects in India
It is very difficult to acquire huge amounts of lands for such projects due to centre-state conflict on land ownership and encroachment issues, said Ashwini Phadnis, a journalist who has tracked the aviation sector for over 30 years. Most airports are being built outside the cities due to unavailability of land within the city, he added.
Suburban and rural areas largely consist of people who have lived on it for many years. The government does not understand that the relationship with land is not monetary, said environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman.
“The problem is government is paying money for a relationship that cannot be bought,” he added.
The government also decided to temporarily delay the Airports Authority of India (AAI) stake sale in 4 Indian airports —Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru on December 1, 2022. The government has found a solution, land owners should be paid a higher price, said Vyas. It depends on the industrialists as they are unwilling to pay, he added.