UP Govt plans for greenfield airport

New Delhi: The proposal of the Uttar Pradesh Government for setting up a greenfield airport at Jewar has been referred to a Group of Ministers, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, said on Thursday.

Briefing newspersons after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, the Minister said that the new airport project is to come up 68 km from the existing airport here.

The project cost is estimated at Rs 3,505 crore as per the feasibility report submitted by the State Government. According to the plan, the Taj Expressway Authority (TEA) would be nominated as the sponsor of the project and the TEA would acquire the land in accordance with the policy of the UP Government.

The project would be implemented through a special purpose vehicle, which would be a joint venture with a private party to be selected through a competitive bidding process. The private party will hold 74 per cent stake in the joint venture, while the State Government will hold 13 per cent through the sponsor and the remaining 13 per cent would be held by other Government agencies such as the Airports Authority of India.

Helicopter services

The Union Cabinet also approved the continuation of helicopter services for inter-island movement in Lakshadweep for another five years. Briefing presspersons, Mr Dasmunshi said that the cabinet approval would allow the helicopter service to continue till the end of March 2012.

“The Cabinet has approved a subsidy of Rs 13.10 crore annually to meet the cost of hiring or chartering helicopters from the Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd for operating the services,” the Minister added.