Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the Rs 16,700-crore Navi Mumbai International Airport at Ulwe Kopar near Panvel.

“Globalisation is the reality of our times and to keep pace with globalisation, we need top quality infrastructure,” Modi said at the event. “The benefits [of globalisation] will be achieved when you have an international level infrastructure to connect to the global market.”

Modi said projects worth Rs 10 lakh crore are stuck as the previous governments did not finish it on time. He added that it was his government had formed an aviation policy that was not undertaken by any of the previous governments.

Aviation has huge scope of employment and also boosts the tourism in the country, the prime minister said. “There is a sharp increase in the number of people flying. This makes quality infrastructure in the aviation sector of prime importance,” he added.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari assured Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis that many places in Mumbai will be connected to the new airport through waterways.

Fadnavis said the prime minister was the reason behind the possibility of the Navi Mumbai International Airport as the state government had received permissions because of the central government and Modi’s proactive approach. The chief minister said the first terminal to be completed by end of 2019.

“With the availability of this airport, it will contribute to increasing the Gross Domestic Product of Maharashtra by at least 8%,” Fadnavis said. “I am thankful to Bin Zayed International LLC, United Arab Emirates, for supporting one of the most ambitious projects of the government of Maharashtra that will change the entire economy of the state and create huge employment.”

The prime minister also inaugurated the Fourth Container Terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

The airport was planned in 1997 as a secondary airport to ease the rush at the congested Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, which handles over 900 flights a day. The Maharashtra government sanctioned the project in 2007 but it got entangled in environmental concerns and land acquisition problems.

In October 2017, the Maharashtra government’s Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee had approved conglomerate GVK’s bid to construct the airport in Navi Mumbai.

The land needed for the airport is yet to be fully acquired, PTI reported. The new airport will have two parallel runways and will handle close to 80 flights an hour.

Watch the event live here: