Foundation stone of Jewar airport to be laid before Diwali

The foundation-laying ceremony of the greenfield Greater Noida international airport in Jewar would be performed before Diwali this year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would attend the event, state government officials said.

Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the nodal agency for the project, is also planning to soon float the scheme for development of hotel, motel, plaza, shopping centre and convention centre, they said.

According to the Technical Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR), the airport project is expected to generate about one lakh employment opportunity.

The airport project received in-principle approval from the Centre on April 23. The foundation-laying ceremony is likely to be performed towards October-end as Diwali falls in the first week of November.

The request for proposal to invite developers for executing the greenfield project would be floated by June-end and PwC, the consultant for the project, has been asked to prepare the bid documents, the officials said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be attending the foundation stone-laying ceremony which would take place before the Diwali celebrations," they said.

An investment of about Rs 80,000 crore is expected in the first phase with plans for star hotels, laser plaza, shopping complexes, convention centres and world class market chain being planned, benefitting the region significantly and the farming community at large.

Around 5,000 hectare of land has been identified for the project and the first phase of acquisition of land measuring 1,327 hectare for construction of terminal buildings and runways is expected to be initiated soon.

The airport would ease the pressure at the IGI airport in New Delhi, the seventh busiest in Asia, which handles over 60 million passengers annually.

It is expected to handle over 10 crore passengers by 2050.