Extra land acquisition for Noida Airport to be completed in 6 months: NIAL

The acquisition of an additional 3,418 hectares of land in the northern and southern parts of the proposed Noida International Airport for its future expansion will be completed in six months, Shailendra Bhatia, Uttar Pradesh government's Nodal Officer at Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), said here on Friday.

NIAL is UP government-controlled entity that is conducting land acquisition for the airport’s development. 

The Zurich Airport-owned Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), headed by Christoph Schnellmann, is currently developing the Noida airport on the 1,334 hectares that were leased to it by the UP government in 2021. YIAPL and NIAL are two separate entities. The 1,334-hectare land will be developed in four phases and have two runways.

The acquisition cost for this land was Rs 4,326 crore. The first construction phase is expected to be over by the end of this year and the first commercial flight is expected to operate in 2024.

“The 1,365 hectares of additional land is being acquired on the northern side. On the southern side, we are acquiring 2,053-hectare land,” Bhatia, told Business Standard at Wings India Summit 2024. The additional land will be used to develop other three more runways and hubs for aviation-related services.

He said the acquisition of the land in the northern area will be completed soon.

“We have distributed compensation to 90 per cent of farmers. We will get possession of this land in the next month. For the southern land (2,053 hectares), we have done the social impact assessment (SIA). A further process is going on. I think it will be completed in the next six months,” he added. 

The extra land being acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government is for the expansion of the airport in the future.

“One more runway will be built on the northern land and two more runways on the southern land. Therefore, the airport will then have a total of five runways,” Bhatia noted.

A separate RFP (request for proposal) will be developed for the northern and southern land acquisition.

“Right now, we are deciding the royalty, and what financial model should be implemented for the new RFP. To build an aviation ecosystem, we require more land. That is why it is being done right now. Once the airport takes off, it is difficult to acquire land. That is why we are acquiring the land in anticipation of the need,” he added.