Int’l airport at Jewar to be built on PPP model

LUCKNOW: Noida International Airport at Jewar would be built on a public-private-partnership model.

A company, Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), has been formed and authorised by the state government to oversee its construction.

The project was given the green light by the state cabinet in its meeting on December 3, following which a government order was issued by the civil aviation department here on Saturday, according to UP chief secretary Anoop Chandra Pandey. The four-page order states that the acquired land will be given on a 90-year lease to the NIAL, which has been vested with the power to select the developer.

“The NIAL has been authorised to act as per the terms of reference mentioned in the bid document and concession agreement drafted by the project consultant, once it gets the nod of the Centre,” the chief secretary said.

Instructions have been issued to the officials that the government land that comes in the ambit of the airport will be transferred free of cost by the respective departments to NIAL.

The GNOIDA administration has completed the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) scheme of the farmers of six villages whose land would be acquired for the green-field project.

The six villages would be shifted for the purpose. The irrigation department will oversee and facilitate the shifting process.

To ensure disbursal of land compensation, the state government has given financial and administrative approval of Rs 4,500 crore required for acquisition of 1,239.14 hectares of land at a price of Rs 2,300 per square metres. In keeping with the rehabilitation and resettlement provisions of the land acquisition Act of 2013, officials have been told to construct new primary, secondary schools for children who will be shifted to new places after the land where they live and study is acquired for the project.

The chief secretary said the women and child welfare department would also build an ‘aanganwadi’ centre.

Officials have also be instructed to get barren land converted into cultivable tracts for agricultural purposes against all the farmland that is set to be acquired for the purpose of construction of the airport.