UP to seek ‘in-principle’ nod for Jewar airport
GREATER NOIDA: The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) on Wednesday said the Uttar Pradesh government had decided to apply for ‘in-principle’ approval for the new greenfield international airport project in Jewar, a day after the ministry of civil aviation expressed its satisfaction over the progress of the project.
The ministry of civil aviation (MOCA) is hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation of the project in October this year, officials said.
“We gave a detailed presentation of the progress made on the new greenfield Noida international airport and also explained the set timelines under which we have been working on this ambitious project. The MOCA was happy with the progress and asked us to apply for the ‘in-principle’ approval for the project. We aim to ready the required papers and apply next week,” said Shailendra Bhatia, officer on special duty, Yeida.
Yeida has been appointed as the nodal agency for this project by the Uttar Pradesh government.
The ministry had on June 24, 2017, had given its approval to build an international airport at Jewar. Yeida, in December 2017, had hired PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to prepare the techno-economic feasibility report for the project along the 165-km-long Yamuna expressway that connects Greater Noida with Agra.
PWC submitted its draft report on March 15. Gautam Budh University, which conducted a social impact assessment of farmers whose agricultural land will be acquired for the project, also submitted its report in March.
Yeida officials seem upbeat after the Delhi meeting attended by Suresh Prabhu, minister for civil aviation, Dr Mahesh Shanna, minister of state for environment, forest, climate change, Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation, RN Choubey, secretary, ministry of civil aviation, Prabhat Kumar, chairman, Yeida, and others.
The airport will be developed on a public private partnership model (PPP) and the Yeida has already made arrangements for the funds required for the land acquisition.