India gave a green light yesterday for the construction of a second international airport in the commercial capital Mumbai which had been blocked for a decade.

“Today, formally the environmental clearance has been given to the Navi Mumbai Project,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told a press conference in New Delhi. The massive new airport will be situated in Navi Mumbai or New Mumbai, a booming suburb 50 kilometres southeast of the centre of the city of 18 million people.

Environmentalists had opposed the 90-billion-rupee (€1.4 billion) project on the grounds that it would upset the delicate ecological balance of nearby protected tidal wetland areas.

Thousands of hectares of mangrove trees and shrubs, which act as a natural buffer against the sea and coastal erosion, will have to be removed from the area.

The facility is expected to handle up to 40 million passengers by the time it is fully operational in 2030.

“If they want, they can start construction of the airport from today,” Mr Ramesh said. “From an environmental point of view, this has been a very major compromise that has been reached.”

However, an official in the Environment Ministry said that the project might still face a court challenge from activists.