Will soon start work on Jewar airport: UP Minister

The decks have been cleared for an international airport at Jewar in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh after the centre's nod and the Uttar Pradesh government will soon start work on the project under the PPP mode, Cabinet Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said on Saturday.

Thanking the central government for the in-principle approval by the Civil Aviation Ministry for the project, the Health Minister said the Uttar Pradesh government had identified 3,000 hectares of land for the proposed airport.

The project, to be taken up under the Public-Private Participation model, will entail an investment of around Rs 20,000 crore. In the first phase, 1,000 hectares would be developed, said the state government spokesperson.

"The Greater Noida airport will see an expected footfall of around 30-50 lakh passengers every year in the next 10-15 years," he said.

The airport, once completed, will ease pressure on the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

The airport project had been hanging fire since 2003 due to lack of interest on the part of both the central and state governments.

Bahujan Samaj Party leader and the then Chief Minister Mayawati had approved the airport project during her last term but things did not move whereas her successor Akhilesh Yadav pushed for an international airport at Agra.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's state government led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, soon after coming to power in March, again pushed for the project.

--IANS

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