While the Mayawati Government’s proposal to set up an airport at Greater Noida appears to be just a step away from being taken up by the Union Cabinet with the Civil Aviation Ministry having accorded all the necessary clearances, the GMR-led consortium modernising the Delhi airport is getting jittery.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), the joint-venture company which is tasked with the modernising and restructuring of the Delhi airport, is apparently not amused at the rush being shown by the Government. Having secured clearances from all ministries concerned, the Civil Aviation Ministry is awaiting comments from the Finance Ministry before moving the Cabinet. The proposed site at Jewar in Greater Noida is roughly 72 km away from Delhi and 120 kilometres from Agra. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 3,505 crore.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is likely to hold 13 per cent equity in the project, has already given its go-ahead to the proposal. “Operationally, there is no problem with the project. Airspace spread over 60 nautical miles will be controlled by a Tower Control set up at Jewar while airspace outside this range would continue to be controlled by the ATC at IGI airport,” a senior AAI official told The Indian Express. What this essentially means is that the ATC at Jewar would only control aircraft during take-offs and landings. “Around 5,000 acres have already been identified and an airport with a single runway and terminal capacity of 40 million passengers per annum can be set up to start with,” the official said.

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