Government sets up PMIC to expedite Jewar airport project

New Delhi : The Central government on Tuesday said that it has set up a 'Project Monitoring and Implementation Committee' (PMIC) to expedite the implementation of New Greenfield Noida International Airport at Jewar.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the UP state government "is planning to lay the foundation stone of phase 1 of the project by October 2018".

"As part of NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman, MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) called a meeting of all stakeholders to review the progress of setting up of Noida International Greenfield Airport at Jewar," the ministry said in a statement.

"In the meeting, timelines have been fixed for various activities and responsibilities assigned. The UP government is planning to lay the foundation stone of phase 1 of the project by October 2018."

As per the statement, a PMIC was constituted on March 27.

The ministry had granted site clearance on July 6, 2017. Subsequently, the UP government appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) as the implementing agency on its behalf in October 2017. 

"Land measuring 5,000 hectares (ha) has been identified by YEIDA for the project, out of which 240 ha. belongs to the state govt and rest is with private owners.

"The first phase of acquisition of land measuring 1,327 ha. for construction of terminal buildings and runways is expected to be initiated in the month of June, 2018 by the YEIDA for necessary arrangements have been made," the statement said.

In addition, the statement said that the airport is to be developed on Public Private Partnership model (PPP). 

"A detailed discussion was held on the financial viability of the airport and various models of awarding the PPP concession were deliberated upon," the statement added.

"The state government and YEIDA assured that funds for land acquisition are available and the process is expected to proceed smoothly."

The new facility will be the second international airport to serve the catchment areas of the National Capital Region (NCR). 

The new aviation facility at Jewar -- Noida International Airport -- is expected to ease the infrastructure pressure on the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) located here.