The state government announced that the Centre has given its nod for the construction of an international airport near Agra and the project would start from October.
On Wednesday, Chief Secretary Deepak Singhal said during a private function in lucknow that the approval for the international airport has been received and now Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will lay the foundation of the airport during Navratra in the first week of October.
The proposal for construction of an international standard airport near Agra was pending with the Central government for the last one decade. “After many discussions, the Union government finally have its approval for the project,” Singhal said.
Earlier in January, the UP government had released a sum of Rs 11.66 lakh to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for conducting a pre-feasibility study for choosing a site for construction of an international airport between Agra and Saifai.
The UP government had proposed two choices —Saifai in Etawah and Bhadroli in Agra — for the construction of ‘Taj International Airport’.
Singhal said there is a plan to upgrade the civil airport operation near Air Force base but due to hurdle in land acquisition, the project has been pending for the last three years now.
“Under the new project, UP will provide 55 acres of land free of cost to AAI for the construction of the civil enclave for the airport within the IAF base,” he said.