Key UP panel approves bid of Zurich Int’l for Jewar airport
The project monitoring and implementation committee headed by UP chief secretary RK Tiwari recommended the highest bidder as developer of the project to the state government
GREATERNOIDA: The Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, RK Tiwari, on Monday approved Zurich International AG’S bid for the Noida International Greenfield Airport project to be developed at Jewar. The decision was taken in the meeting of the project monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC) headed by Tiwari in Lucknow.
Now, the state cabinet will take the final decision on the recommendation by the PMIC, officials said.
The development comes three days after the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) selected Zurich International AG out of four bidders, who submitted bids under the global tender. Zurich International got the rights to develop the Jewar airport project as it offered the highest bid of ₹400.97 per passenger against Adani’s bid of ₹360 that was second highest. Other two bidders were Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operator of Indira Gandhi International Airport, and Anchorage. DIAL offered ₹351 per passenger while Anchorage offered ₹205 per passenger.
As per the procedure, the bid was to put before the PMIC that has recommended the same to the Uttar Pradesh cabinet for further progress.
“As per the process, the PMIC gave its necessary approvals for the bid. Now, UP cabinet will approve it for further progress. Once all legal formalities are finished, we will sign an agreement with Zurich International. In the next three months, the firm will start work at the site after getting all clearances required for a foreign firm,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer of NIAL. Singh is also the CEO for the
Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida).
The UP government and the three industrial development authorities — Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway — have stake in NIAL, a nodal agency formed on September 25, 2018 by the state government to monitor the airport project.
The Noida authority and the state government both have a stake of 37.5% each in the company while the Greater Noida authority and the Yeida have a stake of 12.5% each.
“The meeting was attended by Yeida CEO, Greater Noida CEO, and officials of UP government and the Noida authority as all four have stake in NIAL,” said Narendra Bhooshan, chief executive officer of the Greater Noida authority.
Zurich International will invest ₹30,000 crore in the project and it gets 40 years to fully develop this project. Under the public private partnership (PPP) model, Zurich will design, build, finance, operate and transfer the project to the government after 40 years. The proposed airport will start with two runways by 2022-23 under phase-i and will have eight runways on completion to full capacity.
Under phase-i, the government requires 1,239.14 hectares of land, and in total the UP government has to acquire 5,000 hectares of land for the mega project.
The Gautam Budh Nagar administration has acquired more than 80% of total 1,239.14 hectares of land under phase-i of the mega project.
The Jewar airport was planned in 2001 when then chief minister Rajnath Singh had proposed to build a greenfield Taj international airport and aviation hub in Jewar with an aim to boost local economy and create jobs by setting up industries near the civil aviation hub. However, the project did not see any development till 2009. In 2010, then UP chief minister Mayawati took up the project and got site clearances and approvals from the ministry of defence. But nothing happened at the site and the project continued to remain only on paper.
In 2012, the Upa-led government at the Centre said that an airport cannot come up within 150km of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. In 2013, then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav shifted the project to Agra, 200km from the IGI airport.
In 2014, Dr Mahesh Sharma, BJP leader and Gautam Budh Nagar MP, promised to revive the project in Jewar.
In 2015, CM Akhilesh Yadav expressed willingness to develop the project and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority reserved 5,000 acres for it. In 2016, both the state and central governments pledged support to the project and put it on the fast-track.