Lucknow

The Jewar International Airport in Greater Noida will be India’s largest airport and second largest in Asia after Yogi Adityanath Cabinet okayed 3 runaways for the second phase development of the proposed airport.

Currently, Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport is the largest in the country with three runways.

The first phase will, however, have only 2 runaways. The 1,334 hectares for the airport, rechristened as Greenfield International Airport, was acquired last year and the construction is in full swing. The first phase is expected to complete with a runway by 2024 with at Rs29,500 crore.

The state government has already inked a pact with a Zurich-based company for the first phase construction.

The Yogi Adityanath Cabinet cleared the second phase development of the Airport after Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) cleared the technical feasibility report submitted by the Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee (PMIC). The second phase of Greenfield International Airport will begin in 2042. The work will be completed in 4 sub-phases with the fourth beginning in 2061. About 4,751 hectares and a budget of Rs31,114 crore will be required to complete the 4 phases of the second phase.

Besides, the Yogi Cabinet has also approved a budget of Rs426 crore for acquisition of 233 acres to construct an airport at Ayodhya. The State Civil Aviation dept plans to develop the airport with a Boeing landing facility before the Ram temple’s completion. The Cabinet also okayed to begin the budget sessions from Feb 18. The Yogi govt will table its last budget before the Assembly poll likely in Feb-March 2022.

The CM has issued directives to all departments to submit their budget at the earliest. Since it’s the last financial year of the Yogi government, economists feel it may be a populist budget.