Jewar airport: Over 50 pc land for first phase acquired

The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration transferred another tranche of 34 hectares of land to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEDIA) for the proposed Jewar airport on Tuesday, officials said.

With the latest acquisition from Parohi village, more than half of the land required for the first phase of development of the international Greenfield airport was acquired, they added.

According to District Magistrate B N Singh, land measuring a total of 1,235 hectares is to be acquired for the first phase of the airport and the administration expects to hand over 80 per cent of the land to YEIDA by September 15.

"So far, 624 hectares of land from six villages have been acquired and its possession has been handed over to YEIDA," Deputy Collector and airport project in-charge Abhay Singh said.

He said 125 hectares of land from Dyanatpur, 225 hectares from Rohi, 75 hectares from Parohi, 94 hectares from Ranhera, 100 hectares from Kishorepur and four hectares of land from Banwaribans have been acquired.

The first phase of the airport will spread over 1,334 hectares and is expected to be completed by 2023, according to officials.

The airport, the second in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, will spread over 5,000 hectares and cost an estimated Rs 15,754 crore, the officials said.

When fully operational, it is touted to have six to eight runways, the maximum for any airport in the country, they added.

A global tender was floated to hire a developer for the proposed airport on May 30 by the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), the agency floated by the Uttar Pradesh government for managing the mega project in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.

The last date for receiving queries on the tender was July 1. According to the officials, the bid will be finalised on November 29 and the work on the ground is expected to start by early 2020.