E-Paper
Noida airport to be new logistics gateway: Modi
The ₹29,560 crore project located roughly 70km from Delhi is billed to be among Asia’s largest airports when completed in 2024, with a capacity to handle 12 million people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation of a mega international airport in western Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar village on Thursday in a major development push months before crucial elections in India’s most populous state.
The ₹29,560 crore project located roughly 70km from Delhi is billed to be among Asia’s largest airports when completed in 2024, with a capacity to handle 12 million people.
The PM described it as the logistics gateway of northern India, which will give employment to tens of thousands of people and make western UP a powerful symbol of the National Gatishakti Masterplan.
Watch: Jewar International Airport to be Asia's biggest, create jobs: All you need to know
Hailing “rashtraniti’’ (national policy) over “rajniti” (politics), Modi said, “Infrastructure is not part of politics for us but part of rashtraniti. We are making sure that the projects do not get stuck. We try to ensure that the infrastructure work is completed within the stipulated time.”
Better roads, better rail network, better airports were not just infrastructure projects but also transformed the entire region and people’s lives, he said.
“Infrastructure projects such as Noida International airport at Jewar will change the fate of everyone, be it middle-class, farmers, labourers, industrialists and other classes in 21st century…the multimodal cargo hub will develop the entire region and will give new speed, new hope and new energy in this region,” Modi said at the cornerstone ceremony, flanked by Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Modi attacked Opposition parties, saying previous administrations had made false promises to Uttar Pradesh but now the state was making a mark nationally and internationally due to the Bharatitya Janata Party’s (BJP) double-engine government – a reference to the party being in power both at the Centre and in the state.
“The thinking of these people is self-interest, only their own and the development of their family. Whereas we follow the spirit of nation first. Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, (inclusive development for all) is our mantra,” he said.
Modi said that after seven decades of independence, for the first time, UP was getting what it deserved. “With the efforts of double-engine government, today UP is turning into the most connected region of the country,” he said, adding that earlier state government ignored western UP, a politically crucial region that holds at least 100of the state’s 403 assembly seats.
“There was a time when Uttar Pradesh used to be associated with caste, corruption, bad policing and no industrial atmosphere. But our government at the Centre and state changed that perception and today UP has a better image on the global stage as it is on the path of development,” he said.
“Past regimes put this state into darkness. But our government put it on developmental path with quality educational institutions, industrial and infra projects. Selfish policies of certain political parties could not stand in front of our patriotism and national service,” Modi added.
The PM devoted a large chunk of his 30-minute speech to the airport, which will be built on over 5,800 hectare of land.
He said the airport will play a major role in the growing Indian aviation sector and play key role in the maintenance, repair and operations of aircraft. The PM announced that a 40 acre maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility will also be built.
“We spend ₹50,000 crore on repairing our aircraft annually and get the work done on foreign facilities. Once we build an aviation hub with Noida airport here, having MRO facility as well with ₹30,000 crore,he move will help in saving ₹20,000 crore and develop a facility for repairing our aircraft in our country,” he said. India spends ₹50,000 crore on maintenance of aircrafts annually, the PM said. With airport and MRO, the upcoming project needs ₹30,000 crore roughly. It means it will not only enable ₹50,000 crore investment in Jewar but also create jobs.
Modi said the airport will be useful for cargo handling and beneficial to industrial places like Aligarh, Mathura, Meerut, Agra, Bijnor, Moradabad and Bareilly. “Footwear from Agra, locks from Aligarh and sports products from Meerut and farm will have a global market with airport in vicinity creating massive opportunities and job creation,” said Modi
The PM said that the BJP government had conceptualised this project two decades ago but it was stalled later. “The previous UP government had written a letter to the then central government and had told that the project of this airport should be should not be continued. However, with the efforts of the double engine government, today we are witnessing the bhumi pujan of this airport,” Modi said.
“Previous governments never developed a second airport after IGI [Indira Gandhi International] in Delhi, saying there was no need as one was enough in the national capital. But we have changed that mindset and created this second airport, the biggest in the country, because we want to boost air connectivity that is a symbol of growth,” said Modi.
Listing recent initiatives undertaken by the government, Modi mentioned the 10 million vaccine dose milestone, net zero emission goal by 2070, the Kushinagar Airport foundation stone laid in October this year, nine medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh, a new dam and irrigation project in Mahoba, a defence corridor in Jhansi, the Purvanchal expressway opened on November 16, a revamped railway station in Bhopal named after tribal icon Rani Kamlapati and the widening of the national highway in Pandharpur, Maharashtra.
According to officials, stage 1 of the airport will be completed in 2024-27 and cater to 12 million passengers per annum. Stage 2 of the project, to cost an estimated ₹5,983 crore, will handle about 30 million passengers per annum by financial year 2031-32. Stage 3 will be developed at a cost of ₹8,415 crore and will cater to 50 million passengers per annum by 2036-37, and stage 4 will cost an estimated ₹10,575 crore and handle 70 million passengers per year.
“We congratulate everyone here on this foundation stone laying ceremony because this project will benefit crores of people. The best part with this project is that you reach to world-class Yamuna Expressway right after coming out of it (airport). You can travel to Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Haryana among other areas seamlessly with great ease as it enjoys world class connectivity via railway, road, Metro and now air,” said PM.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, at a public rally in Lucknow, soon after the Noida event, said the BJP government continues to lay foundation stones and inaugurate projects of the previous government. “Once new airports get ready, the BJP government will sell them to private players. This airport foundation is being laid only for eventually selling it,” he alleged.
Noida International Airport is a milestone infrastructure project for the NCR and entire north-India. It will change the market dynamics with two airports competing for customers - and be a win-win for all. Expect Noida airport to be a world class asset with very high green credentials,” said Kapil Kaul, CEO of advisory firm CAPA.
