UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with state Finance Minister Suresh Khanna. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)
The Uttar Pradesh government set aside Rs 2,000 crore for development of the Noida International Greenfield Airport in Jewar area of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Rs 500 crore for an airport in Ayodhya in its annual Budget on Tuesday.
Tabling the Rs 5.12 lakh crore Budget for 2020-21 in the Assembly, State Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said, “The operation of the (Jewar) airport is expected to begin in 2023”. He said “provision of Rs 500 crore has been made for Ayodhya airport, while Rs 92.50 crore provision has been made for airports under the regional connectivity scheme.”
Addressing a press conference later, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “Ayodhya mein ek international airport ka nirman ho sake iske liye bhi is Budget mein pravidhan kiya hai (Provision has been made in the Budget for an international airport in Ayodhya).”
Adityanath said the state government would construct Asia’s biggest airport at Jewar, as part of its plan to improve air connectivity in the region. For this, an additional budgetary allocation, has been made as required, he said.
Last year, the state government had set aside Rs 800 crore for the Jewar airport project, largely for acquisition of land.
The proposed airport at Jewar will be spread across 5,000 hectares and is estimated to cost Rs 29,560 crore. It will be developed in four phases — work on the first phase, spread across 1,334 hectares and estimated to cost Rs 4,080 crore, is expected to begin this year. Sources said a large part of land for the first phase, including about 1,239 hectares of private land, has already been acquired.
Meanwhile, the government plans to expand and develop the existing airstrip in Ayodhya into an international airport. Last year, the government had allocated Rs 200 crore for acquisition of additional land for the project. Sources said the process of land acquisition has already begun.
In its latest Budget, the state government also set aside Rs 85 crore for providing basic facilities to tourists in Ayodhya and Rs 10 crore for upgrading the Tulsi Memorial in Ayodhya.