Jewar airport body plan to get foreign investments for project

The Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), an agency formed by the Uttar Pradesh government to monitor the airport project at Jewar, has decided to seek help from foreign embassies to rope in investors for the mega project that will also see the development of an aviation hub in the vicinity.

The NIAL wants to attract global investors to boost economy in the region along the Yamuna Expressway.

On May 30, a global tender was floated to hire a developer for the proposed airport. The details of the bid document are available on its website — www.nialjewar.com. The last date for receiving queries is July 1, 2019 and a pre-bid conference is scheduled for July 15, as the NIAL has fixed six months’ deadline to hire a developer for the airport.

“Right after we floated a global tender, we have started receiving encouraging response from global developers. We cannot reveal the names right now, but we hope that there will be good competition to take over the most coveted project of UP. Reputed developers from India and abroad have purchased the bid document to take part in the bidding process,” said Shailendra Bhatia, officer on special duty of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida).

Bhatia is also looking after the airport project’s development and investment related responsibilities.

The estimated budget for the Jewar airport project, which is expected to be operational by 2022-23, is Rs.15,000-Rs.20,000 crore.

Yeida officials said they are approaching embassies of all countries, particularly of those who traditionally invest in Indian projects.

“We will approach the embassies of Japan, Singapore, America and China, among others. Our aim is to rope in global developers or investors, who want to invest in the proposed airport or other industrial schemes in our area,” Bhatia said.

Yeida has prepared a blueprint to develop a world-class city spread on 2,000 hectares of land on periphery of the proposed international airport at Jewar.

The consultant hired by Yeida has submitted its study report on a high-tech city to be developed near the proposed airport.

The proposed city will have 40 percent of the area earmarked as green, IT parks, food street, residential clusters, commercial space, vegetable market, European style shopping centres, and skill center to train workforce, among others.

Yeida is discussing the report with experts before taking final call on its design. This city will be on the lines of America’s Dallas airport and Turkey’s Istanbul airport, officials said.

“Besides, we are also developing a commercial hub near airport. The commercial hub will be developed on the lines of Delhi’s Aerocity, a hub of luxury hotels. In embassies, we will spread awareness about our industrial, commercial and residential schemes. With the help of embassies, we can facilitate interested investors and provide them required scheme-related details easily,” Bhatia said.

The Noida International Airport Limited requires 1,334 hectares for two runways, and the process of acquiring the land is on in full swing.

About 1,200 hectares are owned by farmers, while 95 hectares belong to the state government. Greater Noida administration will distribute a total of ₹2,850 crore to the farmers, whose land has to be acquired for the project along the 165km Yamuna Expressway.

“Investors first contact their respective embassies. Therefore, if the embassy has details about the airport project and other schemes, then it will foster confidence in investors,” Bhatia said. The state government, on April 24, 2001, had established the Yeida for the development of areas between Greater Noida and Agra. The objective was to set up industries to generate employment and develop urban areas in the region.

Source : Hindustan Times