Noida: Yeida to build biodiversity park on 301.46 acres land

Officials said, the authority will spend ₹150 crore on buying the land from land owners for this project and acquire 74.13 acres of land for the same. Once completed, the park will be the biggest of its kind in the Gautam Budh Nagar district.

The Yamuna expressway industrial development authority (Yeida) will soon be building a biodiversity park spread across 301.46 acres of land near the Noida International airport with an aim to offer safe habitat to wildlife and protect ecology, said Yeida officials on Friday.

The Dhanauri wetland, a natural habitat for Sarus Crane, state bird of Uttar Pradesh will also be part of the biodiversity park, said officials. (Hindustan Times)

Officials said, the authority will spend ₹150 crore on buying the land from land owners for this project and acquire 74.13 acres of land for the same. Once completed, the park will be the biggest of its kind in the Gautam Budh Nagar district.

Out of the total land earmarked for the project, 74.13 acres will be bought, 30 acres of land will be provided by the state government, 114 acres will be procured from the forest department and the remaining land has been already procured by the Yeida earlier in2022-2023, said officials.

“We will soon issue requests for inviting proposals from expert agencies in a day or two, so that we can finalise an agency which will be engaged in the developmental work. After this, a detailed project report will be made so that the work can be taken to the next stage,” said RK Singh CEO, Yeida.

The Dhanauri wetland, a natural habitat for Sarus Crane, state bird of Uttar Pradesh will also be part of the biodiversity park, said officials.

According to officials, in 2018, Yeida decided to protect this wetland but it failed to conserve it as most of the wetland area is owned by multiple owners. In January 2015, while hearing a case filed by a Noida-based environmentalist, the NGT had directed the state government and the Central environment ministry to identify and notify Dhanauri wetlands to protect the various species of birds.

The wetland is located in sectors 16 and 17 of the Gautam Budh Nagar, nearly 60 km from the Mahamaya flyover along the Yamuna Expressway. These sectors were proposed to be developed as residential areas.

“After we reserve 301 acres for the wetland and bird sanctuary, the remaining area will be used for housing projects,” said a Yeida official.