BBC Learning English
Words in the News
22
nd
November 2010
New airport approved for Mumbai
Words in the News
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2010
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bbclearningenglish.com
Plans for a second airport in Mumbai have been approved. The new terminal will be built on
a site just over an hour's drive from the city centre. The Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh
insisted the development is environmentally friendly. Nidhi Dutt reports.
For many years it's been a battleground between environmentalists and developers. But
finally Navi or New Mumbai has officially been confirmed as the location for Mumbai's
second airport. Announcing his ministry's support for the development, the Environment
Minister Jairam Ramesh said authorities had already met 32 ecological conditions. The
government blocked the diversion of a local river and also sought agreement from developers
that nearby mangroves will not be destroyed. But in other ways, the ministry has softened its
stance. It's given authorities the all-clear to level a 90 metre-high hill for the construction of
two parallel runways. Mr Ramesh insisted that the development needed to be
environmentally friendly, ecologically sound and energy efficient. Areas like Navi Mumbai,
he said, had to be protected as the green lungs of India's financial capital. Once it's
completed, the authorities hope the new airport will ease air traffic congestion and entice
more people to do business in the Navi Mumbai area. Local reports say the airport will take
four years to build and by 2030 it will be able to handle 40 million passengers a year.
Nidhi Dutt, BBC News, Mumbai
