Uttar Pradesh government on Monday approved the Taj International airport project near Agra, thus opening the doors for foreign travellers directly to Agra. This decision was taken in the cabinet meeting here, which was chaired by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The government has decided to start the process for a new Taj international airport near Agra and Mathura. The UP government had appointed a Consortium of RITES and KPMG as consultants to locate another site around Agra or Mathura to build an airport by the same name.
The Centre was not keen on clearing the project because it was too close to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi. But after RLD chief Ajit Singh, took over as the new union civil aviation minister, hope for a greenfield Taj international airport and aviation hub (TIAH) at NCR was rekindled.
The new international airport, about 72 km from Indira Gandhi international airport (IGI) at Delhi, was to be built at an approximate cost of Rs 5000 crore on an area of 1000 hectares, located north of Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. As the proposed airport was within 72 kilometres of IGI, its operators, the GMR Group had protested against plans for another airport at Greater Noida, claiming that it would impact traffic and revenue generation. Later it was resolved that GMR has right of first refusal (RoFR) on new airport within 150 kilometres of the existing Delhi airport. The RoFR was to ensure that GMR gets preference in bidding for the Taj airport in case its bid is within 10 per cent of the highest bidder.
The government has decided to start the process for a new Taj international airport near Agra and Mathura. The UP government had appointed a Consortium of RITES and KPMG as consultants to locate another site around Agra or Mathura to build an airport by the same name.
The Centre was not keen on clearing the project because it was too close to the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi. But after RLD chief Ajit Singh, took over as the new union civil aviation minister, hope for a greenfield Taj international airport and aviation hub (TIAH) at NCR was rekindled.
The new international airport, about 72 km from Indira Gandhi international airport (IGI) at Delhi, was to be built at an approximate cost of Rs 5000 crore on an area of 1000 hectares, located north of Jewar in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. As the proposed airport was within 72 kilometres of IGI, its operators, the GMR Group had protested against plans for another airport at Greater Noida, claiming that it would impact traffic and revenue generation. Later it was resolved that GMR has right of first refusal (RoFR) on new airport within 150 kilometres of the existing Delhi airport. The RoFR was to ensure that GMR gets preference in bidding for the Taj airport in case its bid is within 10 per cent of the highest bidder.