GRAP curbs no obstacle to Noida airport construction: Officials

Implementation of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to check pollution in Delhi-NCR will not impact the construction work of the upcoming international airport in Noida, officials said on Thursday.

The greenfield airport is coming up in Jewar, some 75 km off Delhi, along the Yamuna Expressway. The airport is being developed in four phases and the first phase is scheduled to be inaugurated in September 2024.

According to officials, a delay in the completion of the project would also leave the Swiss concessionaire Zurich International Airport AG under a penalty of Rs 10 lakh per day.

“According to the order of the Commission for Air Quality Management dated October 29, 2022, there is no obstacle in the construction work of the Noida International Airport,” said an official of the Yamuna Expressway Authority.

The order of the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas had called for strict implementation of GRAP guidelines in view of the air quality in the region hitting the severe category as forecast by the weather department.

Among the measures stated in the order is enforcing a strict ban on construction and demolition activities in the entire NCR.

However, the order made exceptions for railway services, railway stations, and metro rail services including stations, airports and inter-state bus terminals.

National security, defence-related activities, projects of national importance, hospitals and health care facilities besides highways, roads, flyovers, over bridges, power transmission, and pipelines among others have also been exempted, according to the order.

The Noida International Airport, billed to be Indias largest upon completion, will be NCRs third commercial airport after the IGI Airport in Delhi and the Hindon in Ghaziabad.

Currently, construction work is underway for the first phase of the airport which is being developed in an area spreading over 1,300 hectares while the Uttar Pradesh government is in the process to acquire the land for the second phase of the Greenfield project.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)