NIAL submits master plan of Jewar airport project to Airports Authority of India for technical examination

NOIDA: The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) on Wednesday said that it has submitted master plan of the proposed international airport at Jewar to the Airports

NOIDA: The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) on Wednesday said that it has submitted master plan of the proposed international airport at Jewar to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for technical examination. Officials of NIAL said that Zurich International AG, the Swiss company selected for developing the Jewar airport, would be asked to start work on the project only after AAI approves the master plan.

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“The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a competent authority to make sure that all norms related with the project are complied with. AAI will give its approvals in the next 15-20 days and then we will ask Zurich to start work at the ground,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer of NIAL and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), the two agencies appointed by the UP government to monitor the airport project.

AAI is a statutory body working under the ministry of civil aviation, and is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India.

“It was necessary because NIAL does not have the expertise to examine the technical aspects of the project. Once the master plan is approved, the work will begin at the site,” said Singh.

According to the officials, the master plan contains the details about terminal building, commercial space, hotels, offices, training centre, cargo facility and parking, among others, on the premises of the airport. The proposed airport will also have the facility of maintenance, repair and overhauling services of aircraft.

Once the master plan gets approval from AAI, it will be approved in the board meeting of NIAL, the officials said.

The UP government has already acquired 1,334 hectares of land for the first phase of the airport. The project has four phases and the first phase has to become operational by 2023-24. In total, the state government has to acquire 5,000 hectares of land for the ambitious project.

Recently, UP chief secretary RK Tiwari, head of project monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC), the apex committee monitoring the Jewar international airport, approved five runways for the project at Jewar. The PMIC also said that the land acquisition can start at the site for second phase whenever the required funds are available.

Yeida has already sought permission from the state government that the land acquisition for the second phase of the airport should be started.

Zurich International will invest Rs 30,000 crore in the project and it gets 40 years to fully develop this project. Under PPP model, Zurich will design, build, finance, operate and transfer the project to government after 40 years. The airport will start with two runways by 2023-24 under phase-I and it will have five runways on completion to full capacity.