Maharashtra Chief Min- ister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said the state government has set a September 30 deadline to inaugurate the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA). “Today we have set the target as we have to seek an appointment of Prime M i n i s t e r N a r e n d r a Modi. We have set a target of September 30. This is an ambitious one but we have told officials of Adani, Navi Mumbai airport authority and CIDCO that you double or triple the 13,000 work- ers currently working here,” Fadnavis said. He was speaking to report- ers after inspecting the ongoing construction work of NMIA along with Deputy CM Eknath Shinde.

The CM said all the licenses for the airport are in place. “Because for commercial opera- tions, you need certain licenses after completion of work. We have told them to initiate that simultaneously. So that we can inaugurate this around September 30, as per the convenience of the PM,” he said.

Fadnavis said the PM laid the foundation stone of the airport and he will inaugurate it. “In two and a half years (of MVA rule) all infrastructure projects were delayed. But we returned to power and put them on fast track. However, the cascading effect of that (MVA rule) is on all infrastructure projects. We wanted to complete the work by April and initiate flight operations by August. Which is not possible now. However, the ongoing progress is satisfactory. We are hopeful that the Septem- ber 30 deadline will be met,” Fadnavis said.

Earlier, Fadnavis said the physical work of the airport is 94 per cent complete, with runaway and terminal building work over. Work on the interiors is underway while an efficient system for baggage counters has been set up.