New Delhi: Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh will become the only state in India to get five international airports, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to lay the foundation stone of the Noida International Airport in Jewar on November 25.
Uttar Pradesh already has three functional international airports -- Chaudhary Charan Singh in Lucknow, one in Varanasi and one recently inaugurated in Kushinagar. A fourth is under construction at Ayodhya and is expected to become operational next year.
The development of the airport is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister towards boosting connectivity and creating a future-ready aviation sector, the PMO said in a statement.
The Noida airport, which will be the second international airport to come up in the national capital region (NCR), will help decongest the IGI Airport in Delhi. It will also be a boon for the people of cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Agra, Faridabad and neighbouring areas.
The PMO said the strategic location of the airport would help in attracting huge investments, boost rapid industrial growth, and enable reach of local products to national and international markets.
"For the first time, an airport in India has been conceptualised with an integrated multi-modal cargo hub, with a focus on reducing the total cost and time for logistics. The dedicated cargo terminal will have a capacity of 20 lakh metric tonne, which will be expanded to 80 lakh metric tonne," the statement said.
For seamless connectivity to the airport, a ground transportation centre will be developed that will feature a multimodal transit hub, housing metro and high-speed rail stations, taxi and bus services. Noida and Delhi will be connected to the airport through metro.
All major highways like the Yamuna Expressway, Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and others will also be connected to the airport.
The project is expected to be completed in 2024. After the completion of the first phase, spread over 1,300 hectares at a cost of Rs 10,050 crore, the airport will be able to handle 1.2 million people. It will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as concessionaire.
Being touted as "India’s first net zero emissions airport", it has earmarked dedicated land to be developed as forest park using trees from the project site, the statement said.