Adani Group¡¯s Next Big Test: Rs 16,000 Crore Investment For Navi Mumbai Airport

About 22 miles southeast of the heavily congested Mumbai airport that opened 82 years ago, hard-hatted laborers are busy constructing an alternative airport for India's financial capital, under the Adani group.

Inside Adani Group's Rs 16,000 Crore Navi Mumbai Airport Project

navi mumbai airport/cntraveller

The $2.1 billion (approx Rs 16,000 crore) Navi Mumbai airport project led by the Adani Group in the satellite city of Navi Mumbai is, in many respects, a microcosm of the vast infrastructure reform that India is undergoing as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to overtake China. It's a test for Gautam Adani to see if he can establish India as a major aviation hub.

With a lotus-shaped design that echoes both the national flower of India and the Modi party's election symbol, the airport is expected to open in March of the following year and have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers annually. If there is sufficient demand, that will increase to 90 million by 2032, according to Arun Bansal, the CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., the biggest private sector airport operator in India and the company that operates the current Mumbai airport.

Also Read; These Are Adani Group's 8 Airports Which Will Get Rs 60,000 Crore Investment In Next Ten Years

Why Adani Airport's CEO Feels Navi Mumbai Will Be A Perfect Airport

Gautam Adani/getty

According to a Bloomberg report, Bansal stated in an interview that Navi Mumbai airport will be a "perfect" candidate to develop into an international transit hub comparable to some of the busiest airports in the world, including Dubai, London, Frankfurt, and Singapore.

¡°Geographically, India is in a very advantageous situation,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s hardly any country where you can¡¯t fly within 12 hours.¡±

This goal may be aided by a wave of aircraft sales and airport expansions. Together, Air India Ltd., IndiGo, and newcomer Akasa have placed orders for over 1,100 aircraft. The most populous country in the world is also investing $12 billion to construct more than 72 new airports by 2025.One of two significant infrastructure projects in the city, the Navi Mumbai Airport, will put Adani, the mining-to-media conglomerate that withstood a devastating short-seller attack by Hindenburg last year, to the test.

Adani Group's other Big Test: Dharavi Slum's Redevelopment

adani dharavi march 18/outlook

The other test is the reconstruction of Mumbai's Dharavi slum, which provided the setting for the critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire. It's one of the biggest and densest slum clusters in the world, with 80 people sharing a single toilet and families of six frequently living in 100-square-meter tenements.

According to her, slots at Navi Mumbai airport will probably be requested by Singapore Airlines Ltd., Emirates, and Qatar Airways QCSC¡ªall of which have a significant presence in India.

Bansal stated that the "majority" of foreign airlines are in talks with Adani Airport about how to speed up passenger flow. He also stated that he anticipates 30% of the facility's traffic to come from international flights and 70% from domestic ones. If any airlines have committed to operating out of the new facility, he did not say.

Also Read: From Bengaluru To Kolkata: List Of India's Most Profitable Airports

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