The development of the upcoming Noida International Airport (NIA) is on schedule and it will be delivered in time, by the end of 2024, and within the sanctioned budget, a top project officer said on Thursday.
The greenfield airport is coming up at a distance of about 75 km from Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh's Jewar area in Gautam Buddh Nagar district.
Switzerland-based Zurich International Airport AG (ZIAA) had won the concession contract to design, build and operate the airport for a period of 40 years.
The NIA is a public-private partnership project of the Uttar Pradesh government, with the Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a fully-owned subsidiary of the ZIAA, being its implementing agency.
"We are on schedule to deliver the project as per the terms and conditions of the concession agreement," Christoph Schnellmann, the chief executive officer of the YIAPL, told a press conference in Greater Noida.
The NIA will be developed in four phases, after which it would have an annual passenger capacity of seven crore and two terminal buildings spread over five lakh square metres.
Work is currently underway for the first phase of the project, which is scheduled to be completed by September 2024 with one terminal building spread over one lakh square metres and a passenger capacity of 1.2 crore per year.
Responding to a PTI query on any cost overrun in the mega project considering COVID-19 and inflation, Schnellmann said, "We have secured a funding of Rs 5,730 crore and we expect to deliver the airport within the funding that has been sanctioned."
On the operational sustainability and success of the project, chief operations officer of the NIA Kiran Jain said the population in the National Capital Region (NCR) is huge and hence, there is a need for a second international airport here.
She said their discussions with the airlines, the cargo operators, along with the maintenance, repair and overhaul firms, for the work at the NIA have been "incredibly positive".
"In terms of our relationships with the airlines, our conversations with the MROs, the cargo freight operators or the multi-modal cargo hub developers, I can tell you that our discussions are incredibly positive. There is a great belief in what we are doing and in the need for having another airport for this very busy catchment," Jain said.