Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone of the Noida International airport at Jewar in Gautam Buddh Nagar. The much-awaited project was flagged off just weeks before the schedule of the UP Assembly elections is to be announced. The ambitious project has been showcased as one of the major infrastructure projects in the country and it has been claimed that it will generate over 1 lakh new jobs.
PM Modi said that Jewar will now be on the international map and the airport will bring prosperity and will change the lives of local people.
“Better roads, better rail network, better airports are not just infrastructure projects but they transform the entire region, transforming people’s lives completely,” the PM said.
Talking about the BJP governments at the Centre and in UP, the PM said, “For the first time after India’s Independence, this double-engine government is giving Uttar Pradesh its due. Earlier, UP would be criticised for bad roads, poor infrastructure, mafia, etc. Previous governments kept UP poor. Today, the state is making its mark on the global stage.”
ALSO READ | UP to bear half of cost of link road connecting Delhi-Mumbai Expressway with Jewar airport The PM said that the BJP government has ensured the timely execution of projects. “Earlier projects would be announced but nothing would happen on the ground. Costs would escalate and blame games used to be played. Our government has ensured that infrastructure projects are finished on time. Otherwise, penalties will have to be paid,” added the PM. This airport will be the second international airport to come up in Delhi NCR and will help decongest the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. It is strategically located and will serve the people of cities including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Agra, Faridabad and neighbouring areas. The development of the first phase of the airport is being done at a cost of over Rs 10,050 crore. Spread over more than 1300 hectares of land, the completed first phase of the airport will have a capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year and work on it is scheduled to be completed by 2024. It will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as concessionaire. The groundwork for the first phase regarding land acquisition and rehabilitation of the affected families has been completed.
The airport will develop a Ground Transportation Centre that will feature a multinodal transit hub, housing metro and high-speed rail stations, taxi, bus services and private parking. This will enable seamless connectivity of the airport with road, rail, and metro. Noida and Delhi will be connected to the airport through hassle-free metro service.
