Jewar airport: Land acquisition steady, 707 hectares acquired

Noida (UP): The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration acquired and transferred 83 hectares of land from two villages to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) on Thursday for the proposed Jewar airport, officials said.

As much as 81.5 hectares was acquired from Rohi village, while 1.5 hectares from Banwaribans village, taking the total acquisition to 707 hectares, the first phase development of the international greenfield airport, they said.

According to District Magistrate B N Singh, 1,235 hectares will be acquired for the first phase of the airport and the administration expects to hand over 80 per cent of the land to YEIDA by September 15.

Deputy Collector and airport project in charge Abhay Singh said so far 125 hectares from Dyanatpur, 306.5 hectares from Rohi, 75 hectares from Parohi, 94 hectares from Ranhera, 100 hectares from Kishorepur and 5.5 hectares from Banwaribans have been acquired.

The first phase of the airport would be spread over 1,334 hectares and is expected to be completed by 2023, according to officials.

The airport, second in the national capital region after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport, will be spread over 5,000 hectares and cost an estimated Rs 15,754 crore. It is touted to have six to eight runways, the most in India, when fully built, the officials said.

A global tender was floated to hire a developer for the airport on May 30 by the Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), an agency floated by the UP government for managing the mega project in Gautam Buddh Nagar district. The bidding process for the airport was floated on May 30 and the last date for receiving queries was July 1. The bid would be finalised on November 29 this year, and work on ground is expected by early 2020, according to the officials.