GB Nagar DM approves formation of key committees for Noida airport
Senior officials said this was the first step to involve all stakeholders to establish a collaborative and clear direction for emergency and hijack response, obstacle removal and management of the airport
District Magistrate Manish Kumar Verma on Wednesday approved the formation of crucial committees for Noida international airport, including the environment management committee (AEMC), the airport emergency planning committee, and the anti-hijacking contingency plan.
Senior officials said this was the first step to involve all stakeholders to establish a collaborative and clear direction for emergency and hijack response, obstacle removal and management of the airport.
The approval came after Verma chaired a meeting with chief operating officer of Noida international airport Kiran Jain and other officials on Wednesday.
Senior officials provided detailed presentations, emphasizing the need for a coordinated approach to emergency response and hijack scenarios, said officials who attended the meeting.
Recently, speculations are rife that the airport might not see its completion before 2025, even as the state government has insisted that the concessionaire stick to scheduled completion deadline of September-end 2024.
DM Verma had said earlier this week that “no leniency would be tolerated in the construction of the airport”.
Before that in June, airport developer Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a fully owned subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, had said that commercial operations is expected to start only by the end of April next year and the project would most likely miss the September 2024 deadline, owing to the slow pace of work on the terminal building.
This was followed by a spot inspection by Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra who further directed that the airport should be completed by September and be ready for operations by December 2024.
As of now, around 75% of the work is completed and infrastructure elements such as runways and air traffic control (ATC) tower, being readied by Tata Projects Limited, will be handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for installation of ATC equipment by August 2024.
Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL) officials could not be reached for comment on the setting up these committees.