Noida international airport: NIAL looks at land for airport phases 3 and 4

The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) on Thursday sent a proposal to the state government to acquire 2,050 hectares from 13 villages for the third and fourth phases of the international greenfield airport in Jewar, officials said.

The move comes a day after the government increased the area of land required to rehabilitate farmers displaced by the second phase of the greenfield airport. It also hiked the land acquisition rate under the second phase to 3,100 from 2,300 per square metre, which was the rate given to farmers under the first phase.

The revised rate will now be uniform for all upcoming phases, officials said.

To be sure, the Uttar Pradesh government earlier this month approved the land acquisition for the phases 3 and 4 at a cost of 6,300 crore.

“The Uttar Pradesh government has already given their approval for the land acquisition for phases 3 and 4. Therefore, we have sent the proposal to acquire 2,050 hectares of land in a total of 13 villages located in Jewar area. We have sent the details of the said land which will be used for construction of the Noida airport and maintenance, repair and operations hubs,” said Arun Vir Singh chief executive officer, NIAL.

NIAL is the Uttar Pradesh government’s nodal agency formed to oversee the development of the aviation hub.

It has sent the proposal to Gautam Budh Nagar administration which is responsible for the land acquisition process under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

In its proposal, NIAL said it will acquire 1,350 hectares for phase 3 and 700 hectares phase 4 in one go.

The villages from where the land will be acquired include Banwaribas, Thora, Neemka and Sabota, among others. “We will acquire the land under the provisions of the 2013 Land Act,” said Suhas LY, district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.

“Once we receive the proposal, we will carry out a social impact assessment study of the 13 villages before taking forward the process,” said Balram Singh, additional district magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar.

The administration is currently in the process of acquiring a total of 1,363.45 hectares for phase 2.It has already acquired 1,334 hectares under phase one of the project and handed it over to Swiss company Zurich International AG, which is the concessionaire developing the airport. The firm has completed over 20% of the development work on the airport, said its officials.

Under phase 1, the airport will initially cater to 12 million passengers annually, which will be increased to 70 million by phase 4. It will start operations with one runway and nearly 100,000 flight movements a year, said officials.

The runway will be 3,900 metres long and have a standing capacity to accommodate 28 aircraft. The passenger terminal will have an area of 100,000 square metres, said officials.

“Phase 1 will have one runway and a passenger traffic of 12 million. Phase 2 will have two runways, which will be increased to four under phase 3. By phase 4, the runways will be six with four passenger terminal buildings. The fourth phase will also see the development of maintenance, repair and overhaul hub,” said Shailendra Bhatia, officer on special duty, NIAL.

The international airport along the Yamuna Expressway is slated to become operational by 2024-end.

“The government’s move to hike land rates will have a positive impact on farmers as land owners were demanding better rates and rehabilitation facilities. The state government also agreed to give residential plots in Modelpur instead of earlier location of Faleda village. With a better compensation package, the land acquisition will become easier,” said BP Jha, assistant professor of political science, University of Delhi.