Vietnam’s new airport vs Mumbai’s new airport

I just came across this news item:

The southern province of Dong Nai plans to open Southeast Asia’s new main transit airport in 2020, local authorities announced Friday. According to the plan, work on Long Thanh International Airport will start in 2015 with an initial investment of over US$6.75 billion.

The first phrase is scheduled for completion in 2020 and the airport will be able to admit A380-300 airplanes or those of a similar size, investor Vietnam Airlines Corporation said.  It then will be able to serve 25 million passengers together with 1.2 million tons of goods per year, the company said.

However, its capacity will be improved to 100 million passengers and five million tons of goods per year when all the three phrases are completed in 2030, according to the plan. Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang said many railways and roads will connect to the airport, some 40 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City’s center. New roads and rails will also be built to accommodate the new hub, he said.

 

And what to we do at a new airport to be built in Navi Mumbai. A capacity of 10 million by 2014 (unlikely to be completed by then), 25 mn by 2020, 45 million by 2025  and 60 million by 2030. And we call it an international airport.

This demand projection from CIDCO (the governing body of airport in Navi Mumbai) itself:

The fight that led to revamp of New York City

Anthony Flint, a journalist wrote this book called Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City.

Who better than Ed Glaesar to do the review. The review makes the book a tempting one to read for urban planners and economists.

Basically the book is about a battle between two NY people each who had a different idea about desighn of the city. Moses wanted all those tall buildings at the cost of forcing people to relocate. Jane Jacobs cared about people and instead preferred to save neighbourhoods and imposing land use restrictions. Moses designed the city earlier and was very well-known and powerful. How Jacobs took over him and defeated his ideas is what the book is all about. It is a battle of david vs goliath in urban development space.

Vocal Israel vs Silent India

I was reading this article on how Israelis have taken to streets protesting for rising housing prices in Israel. A friend in Israel did tell me that housing prices were a concern in Israel but did not know something like this happened: