UP govt announces Rs 2,000 cr for airstrip expansion at Noida

The Uttar Pradesh government in its 2021-22 budget has made a provision of Rs 2,000 crore for the expansion of the Noida International Greenfield Airport. It also announced establishing an ‘electronic city’ near the airport.

The decision is to increase the number of airstrips at the airport from two to six and Rs 2,000 crore has been earmarked for this project. While work on the first phase is underway, the airport — being built at an estimated cost of around Rs 30,000 crore — is to be the biggest in India upon completion.

Switzerland’s Zurich Airport International AG has won the contract to build the proposed airport in Jewar on the outskirts of Delhi; construction will take place in four phases. It is set to be completed by 2023.

While the airport is expected to come up on about 5,000 hectares of land, so far, the government has acquired 1,334 hectares on which two runways will be built in the initial phase. An additional 50 hectares of land is for the rehabilitation of those displaced due to the project. The remaining land would be acquired in a phased manner.

The airport project in its present form has been referred to as a “greenfield project”, but the idea was first proposed in 2001 when Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the UP Chief Minister, though it did not materialise then. The project was named Taj International and Aviation Hub at the time.

It got a push when the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was in power in the state, led by then chief minister Mayawati from 2007—2012. A cargo hub was also proposed along with it.

The project was revived during the current BJP regime. With the same party at the Centre and state, things could move faster. Site clearance for the airport came in 2017. In the next three years, various clearances, including security, environment, bidder, etc followed.