Jewar airport: Land acquisition process to start by October-end
GREATERNOIDA: The Gautam Budh Nagar administration will ready the proposal for the land acquisition process for the proposed Jewar international airport project by this week. The Uttar Pradesh government is expected to start the acquisition process by the end of October, officials said. As per the procedure, the process will begin after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath approves the social impact assessment (SIA) report, officials said.
On September 25, UP chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey had approved the SIA report put forth in a meeting in Lucknow.
“The chief secretary has approved the SIA report. But let it be approved by the CM. After that we will send the proposal. Our preparation is at an advance stage. If the SIA is approved by this week, we will send the proposal within this week only,” BN Singh, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, said.
In the first phase, the UP government will acquire 1,257 hectares of land from six villages. Earlier the plan was to acquire 1,441 hectares of land from eight villages including Rohi, Parohi, Banwaribas, Ramner, Dayanatpur, Kishorpur, Mukimpur Shivara and Ranhera. However, the district administration excluded Kishorpur and Mukimpur Shivara villages from the first phase.
“Once the SIA is approved, the state government will issue a notification and the district administration will acquire the land for the airport,” said a UP government official.
As per suggestions made by the state government, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) India and officials are studying the concession agreement modalities of the planning department of Central government.
“The PwC, the consultant for project, is revising the concession agreement. Once the state government approves the agreement modalities, the process of selection of a developer for the project will be started,” said the official.
The administration officials said their focus is on preparing the proposal and finalising a rehabilitation plan for almost 2,200 families, whose houses will be relocated.
“Many agencies including micro small medium enterprise association of Noida are coming forward to help us in rehabilitation work. The builders, industrialists and other interested entrepreneurs will help in providing jobs, healthcare and other facilities to families who are giving their land for the project,” Singh said.
The estimated budget for project is ₹15,000-₹20,000 crore. On the whole, it requires 5,000 hectares of land. The airport had first been proposed by then UP chief minister Rajnath Singh in 2001 with an aim to boost local economy and create jobs by setting industries near the civil aviation hub.