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- Published: November 25, 2021 20:23
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Noida International Airport, Asia’s largest, world’s fourth largest as well as India’s first net zero emission airport, will open up new avenues of development and take progress of Uttar Pradesh, especially Western UP, to new heights.
Addressing a huge gathering on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the airport, PM Modi said that it will not only boost tourism, including religious tourism, and create jobs for millions of youths of the state, but also connect small farmers and manufacturers of Western UP with international markets.
“The Noida International Airport puts Jewar on international map today. The airport will be the logistics gateway of north India and also boast of an integrated multi-nodal cargo hub. It will fast track development of the state”, the PM said.
He added that the airport will also have a full-fledged maintenance, repair and overhauling facility spread over 40 acres, which will save Rs 15,000 crore spent annually on maintenance and repair of aircraft in the country, pointing out that that 85 percent of maintenance and repair works of aircraft are currently done overseas. The PM said that the amount was big given the fact that the total cost of the airport was about Rs 30,000 crore.
Taking a swipe at the previous government, PM Modi said: “For them, infrastructure is not a matter of policy, but politics, and projects exist on paper and in announcements only. Hence, their projects never see the light of the day. As for us, building infrastructure is part of our national policy and patriotism. So, you see so many development projects taking place simultaneously on the ground.”
Modi said that better roads, rail network and air connectivity are key to development of a state and a country and UP has recently been making rapid strides in this direction with the opening of expressways, metro networks and domestic and international airports.
Continuing his attack on the previous government, PM Modi said that they shelved even the Noida International Airport Project. He added that there was provision for fines also in case of delay of projects. He said that so many planed were being bought by India for the convenience of people. “Uttar Pradesh has today become a state . with “Uttam Suvidha & Nirantar Nivesh” (better facilities and continuous investments).
Speaking on the occasion Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the airport will attract investments worth Rs 60,000 crore and provide jobs to one lakh people. He also thanked PM Modi for opening 62 airports in seven years.
Uttar Pradesh has the unique distinction of being the only state in the country to have five international airports. It is worth mentioning here that the Kushinagar International Airport was inaugurated recently while the construction of Ayodhya International Airport is underway.
At present, Uttar Pradesh has 8 operational airports, while 13 airports and 7 airstrips are being developed. The operational airports handling commercial flights in UP are Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Hindon (Ghaziabad.)
The airport at Jewar will have excellent multi-modal connectivity as it is close to the existing Yamuna Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway and it will have link with Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at Ballabhgarh, Khurja-Jewar NH 91, dedicated freight corridor, Metro Extension from Noida, and the proposed High Speed Rail (Delhi-Varanasi) at airport terminal.
The Jewar area will also have an electronics city, a MSME park, a toy park and a textile park and a world-class film city, which will boost development of the entire region. The airport will benefit millions of people from Delhi, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Noida, Agra and Faridabad.
