India may begin work on its first offshore airport next year, according to the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra. Vadhavan International Airport would be built off the coast of Mumbai, and would have a construction value of about $8.9bn.
According to India Today, Devendra Fadnavis said the government of Maharashtra had appointed an agency to work on a detailed project report (DPR).
The search for a consultant to carry out a pre-feasibility study began in February, and was last week awarded to a joint venture between Grant Thornton of the UK and Japanese consulting engineer Nippon Koei.
Assuming the project’s detailed report and a future feasibility study are favourable, work can begin on raising funds. Fadnavis believes that these stages can be completed in time for site work to begin next year.
When complete, Vadhavan will be Mumbai’s third international airport after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Navi Mumbai, which is under construction now and which Fadnavis has said will be completed in September this year.
The idea for the third airport, first mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2023, is part of a plan to expand Mumbai’s grossly inadequate air infrastructure.
Now, all flights to and from the metropolitan area – which has a population of about 26 million people – operate from a single runway.
Fadnavis said the idea for the airport had come from plans to build an offshore port. “When we can reclaim land and build an offshore port at Vadhavan, why not build an offshore airport as well?” he said.
In April, he said the two projects would “change the entire way we conduct business” in Maharashtra.
Vadhavan is a coastal village located in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, about 60km north of Mumbai. It was approved as the site for the Vadhvan Transshipment Port in June 2024, and ground was broken by Prime Minister Modi the following August.
This $9bn facility will be built and owned by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (74%) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (26%). It will be able to handle four terminals to handle containers, and will also be able to deal with liquids, ro-ro ferries and multipurpose cargos.
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