AAP govt miffed at ‘meagre’ allocation
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi has criticised the budget for poor fiscal devolution as it claimed that Delhi got a “meagre” ₹957 crore, adding that the Central government’s policies will only benefit “big companies” and cause inflation.
GREATER NOIDA: The international airport at Jewar will have five runways.
The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the monitoring agency to develop the project, on Monday said that it had begun the process to acquire land for the second phase of the airport following directions from the state government.
“The Uttar Pradesh government has given in-principle approval to the feasibility project report submitted by the consultant Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC),” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, NIAL.
NIAL, along with the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) is earmarking the land to be acquired for expansion of this project from two runways to five runways, said the officials.
The state government took the decision to approve the five runways in a cabinet meeting held on January 28 this year.
On December 3 last year, the UP chief secretary RK Tiwariheaded project monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC), the apex committee monitoring the project, had approved a proposal on five runways at Jewar. The approval by PMIC came after PWC had submitted its report that it
would be technically and economically viable to develop this airport into a five-runway project to its full capacity, said the officials.
“In first phase, the airport will have two runways and the work will start by mid-2021. Zurich International AG will develop first phase and make it operational by 2023-24. Now, we need to acquire land for expansion of the project,” said Singh.
Under phase-1, the government has acquired 1,334 hectares of land, and in total it has to acquire 5,000 hectares of land. Now, 1,365 hectares will be acquired in phase 2, 1,318 hectares
in phase 3, and phase 4 will witness land acquisition of 735 hectares, the officials said.
Swiss company Zurich International AG will invest Rs 30,000 crore in the project and it gets 40 years to fully develop this project. Under the PPP model, Zurich will design, build, finance, operate and transfer the project to government after 40 years.