Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, laid the foundation stone of what is being touted as Asia's largest airport, Noida International Airport (NIA), in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar. The airport will be the second international airport to come up in Delhi National Capital Region and will help decongest the Indira Gandhi International Airport. In the politically crucial northern state, it will be the fifth international airport.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the Noida airport will bring an investment of Rs 35,000 crore to the region while addressing the gathering at the venue. The development of the first phase of the airport is being done at a cost of over Rs 10,050 crore and spread over more than 1300 hectares of land, as per government accounts. The completed first phase of the airport will have a capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year and work on it is scheduled to be completed by 2024.
It will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as a concessionaire. Also, the groundwork for the first phase regarding land acquisition and rehabilitation of the affected families has been completed. With a focus on reducing the total cost and time for logistics, Noida International Airport has been conceptualized with an integrated multi-modal cargo hub. UP CM Yogi Adityanath in a tweet said that the airport will develop a Ground Transportation Centre that will feature a multimodal transit hub, housing metro and high-speed rail stations, taxi, bus services, and private parking.
Seamless connectivity of the airport with the road, rail, and metro will be enabled, connecting all major nearby roads and highways like the Yamuna Expressway, Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and others to the airport. The Noida International Airport will also be linked to the planned Delhi-Varanasi High-Speed Rail, enabling the journey between Delhi and the airport in only 21 minutes.
Expanded to 80 lakh metric tonne, the dedicated cargo terminal will have a capacity of 20 lakh metric tonne. The airport will play a crucial role in helping the region attract huge investments, boost rapid industrial growth, through facilitating the seamless movement of industrial products.
The airport will enable the reach of local products to national and international markets and bring new opportunities for numerous enterprises, and also create tremendous employment opportunities.
