Here is a recent photo of common public accessing the Mumbai Airport landing strip. Granted that these people are just onlookers, shouldn't this area be off limits? There is a lot of awareness related to the security matters in Mumbai after Nov 26th, however, as the photo indicates, there is a lot of work still to done.
Following the rapid development, expansion and beautification of Mumbai, the authorities have proposed a major development of the airport as well, especially non-aeronautically, and specifically aimed at luxury retail, commerce and hospitality. Almost 132 acres of real estate land have been acquired for this development, mainly around Sahar village, Kurla and Kalina.In recent years the number of tourists, both Indian and Foreign, visiting Mumbai has increased a great deal. This increase has called for an improvement in facilities, hotel accommodation and entertainment, especially around the airport area, which is the focal point of Mumbai’s tourism. On this massive expansion of land there will be an array of hotels, shopping malls, entertainment centers, offices etc.
The division will be roughly as follows: about 28% (1.6 million sq ft) of the 132 acres will be for retail, 50% or about 2.87 million sq ft will be for hospitality and 22% (1.26 million sq ft) will be reserved for office space. About 3,200 hotel rooms will come up in mainly five and four star hotels.
As airports have round-the-clock activity and high people traffic, with waiting hours, visitors, people from stop-over flights, they are crucial sites for entertainment centers, retail, shopping complexes, hospitality zones and other numerous exchanges.
Not just Mumbai, airports all over the country are set to be upgraded within the next 5 years, with almost 47 projects being currently under process. These projects are expected to generate 78 million sq ft (1,790 acres) for commercial purposes by 2015. Over years, there has been a considerable development in the average annual growth of the airport sector in India. With all these projects, Non-aeronautical revenues are expected to increase from 35% to 54% by 2015. Real estate zones in close proximity to the airports have a great deal of advantage over other areas.
Reader Reenu Sharma spotted Saif Ali Khan [Images] and Kareena Kapoor [Images] at the Mumbai airport. He writes that the couple even visited a book store in the airport, and bought a couple of books.If you encounter/meet/see film or television personalities and take a photograph or a video of the star(s), please scan the photograph(s) and mail the pictures and video clips to us. We will feature the best images and video clips right here on Rediff Movies.
