Yeida may build mono rail to connect airport with Greater Noida

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) on Friday said it has hired a company to prepare a feasibility report for the mono rail project to connect Noida international greenfield airport in Jewar with Greater Noida’s Knowledge Park-4.

Earlier, Yeida had engaged the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare a detailed project report on constructing a Metro corridor between Jewar and Greater Noida. The DMRC is likely to submit the DPR by June end.

In the initial draft report, the DMRC estimated the cost of the Metro project at around 5,000 crore. And if the Metro corridor is extended till New Delhi from Jewar, then the cost was estimated to be around 27,000 crore.

Uttar Pradesh chief secretary DS Mishra and other top officials met on June 14 in Lucknow and discussed other cheaper options to provide connectivity from the airport to the other cities in the National Capital Region (NCR). So, on the instructions of the Uttar Pradesh government, Yeida on Friday has hired a Swiss company to prepare a feasibility report that is to be completed and submitted by end of July, 2023, said officials.

“We have engaged a Swiss agency so that we can understand how much a mono rail project from Jewar to Greater Noida is going to cost. The state government wants to explore connectivity options other than the Metro, which is a costly endeavour as compared to mono rail. But the final call on whether it is going to be mono rail or Metro will be taken only after detailed project reports on the Metro and mono rail are made to study feasibility,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yeida.

According to an initial estimate, one kilometre of mono rail costs 70 crore as opposed to 300 crore for a kilometre of Metro, said Yeida officials. And a Metro line from Jewar to Greater Noida would cost around 5,000 crore while a mono rail between the two points would cost around 2,000 crore.

The Yeida has planned to build a 72km Metro line from Jewar to New Delhi at a cost of 27,000 crore. However, due to the huge budget involved, Yeida wants to explore other cheaper options. The state government and Yeida had in 2020 signed an agreement with the Swiss company Zurich to provide the multimodal connectivity from Noida airport to other NCR cities by the time the airport becomes functional in September 2024.

“We are exploring the best options for providing connectivity,” said Singh. Yamuna authority officials said that mono rail track will be elevated and it will take only 18 months to construct.