It is officials now Uttar Pradesh will get International airport at Jewar in Gautam Budh Nagar. The centre has sent approval to Uttar Pradesh last week asking it to prepare DPR as per Greenfield Airport policy, 2008.
“We have crossed all hurdles. The Centre has approved construction of an international airport at Jewar. We have sent the approval to the UP Government last week and have asked them to prepare a DPR,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mahesh Sharma told The Pioneer here on Friday.
Though centre has approved this project it needs to be ratified by Akhilesh Yadav cabinet. Once approved, this airport will be built under Design Build Finance Operate Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
“Earlier, Airport Authority of India raised a red flag over construction of international airport at Jewar saying an international airport cannot be constructed within a radius of 150 km of International airport in national capital. Once this rule was changed the Civil Aviation ministry approved the proposal to have international airport at Jewar,” the minister said.
Jawer is 100 km from International airport in New Delhi and falls in Gautam Budh Nagar, which incidentally is parliamentary constituency of Sharma.
The Jewar airport was proposed in 2001 when Mayawati was Chief Minister. Mayawati had vigorously pushed for it. Even the techno-feasibility study had been conducted and submitted to the Centre for action and bidding document prepared. Her regime had even planned to get the airport operational before the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The project was estimated to cost nearly Rs 3,500 crore spanning about 3,700 acres and handle 4 million passengers annually.
When Akhilesh came to power in 2012 he scrapped the Jewar international airport project and pitched for an airport in Agra to cater the Taj Mahal-Braj tourist circuit. The government had even identified land near Etmadpur, about 16 km from Agra City, for the mega project.
Sharma said that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav earlier wanted an international airport at Agra but the proposal was shelved because Defence Ministry did not approve it.
“In November 2015 Uttar Pradesh Government sent a letter expressing willingness to revive the Jewar airport proposal. The Civil Aviation Ministry worked on it and finally gave approval to UP Government last week,” Junior Aviation Minister said.
Sharma said besides new airport Centre has also given a push to tourism sector in UP. “The Tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs 510 crore for Buddhish, Krishna and Ramayana circuits. The UP Government has received over 70 per cent of the money,” he said adding that the onus is now on the State to improve infrastructure for these circuits.