PM Narendra Modi to lay Jewar airport foundation stone today

LUCKNOW:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the ambitious Rs 34,000-crore Jewar International Airport project in Greater Noida on Thursday. With UP assembly elections barely a few months away, the state government is expediting the mega infrastructure projects to bolster its development agenda. The Jewar project is one of them.

CM Yogi Adityanath inspected preparations for the ceremony and termed the project as part of PM Modi’s vision. He blamed the lack of political will in the previous governments for the delay in the project, and said the airport would generate one lakh jobs.

The Noida International Airport (NIA) will be the country’s largest airport, officials said. It is located about 72 km from the IGI Airport in Delhi, 40 km from Noida, and about 40 km from the multi-modal logistics hub at Dadri.

The Jewar project is spread across 1,334 hectares with a four-phase completion timeline. Phase 1 is due for completion in 36 months. The state government signed an agreement in October 2020 with concessionaire Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a special purpose vehicle of the bid winner Zurich International Airport AG. As per agreement, Phase 1 should be over by Sept 29, 2024.

On March 1, 2021, the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) had signed the State Support Agreement (SSA) with Zurich AG, which mandated the government to provide necessary infrastructure for the airport, including public transport system and security. Top government sources said airport traffic of 12 million passengers per year is expected between Phase 1 and 4, expected to begin flight operations by 2024.
“The airport is built to take care of traffic volume of 70 million passengers per year between 2040 and 2050,” civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said on Wednesday.

Bansal, however, clarified that the Jewar airport will start with domestic flights, and that Phase-I would cost Rs 8,916 crore. The state government is spending Rs 4,326 crore on land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement. PM Modi is personally monitoring the project, said the civil aviation secretary.