The Union Cabinet on Thursday referred the issue of building a greenfield airport in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, to a group of ministers (GoM) to decide on legal matters and look into the right of first refusal (RoFR) clause that can be exercised by the Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), which is modernising Delhi?s IGI Airport.
The Rs 5,000-crore Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH), expected to come up in the Zevar area of Greater Noida?about 60 km from the national Capital?has been in the news with the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh voraciously lobbying for it.
A meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, before referring the matter to a GoM, approved the state government?s proposal in-principle.
The proposed airport is allegedly in violation of an agreement between the civil aviation ministry and DIAL that was signed when the latter took over the management operations of the IGI. According to the agreement, no airport can come up within a 150-km radius of IGI.
The UP government had in July 2007 submitted a techno-feasibility study and project to the civil aviation ministry for setting up the airport.
Mayawati had also met the Prime Minister to make a point on the need of the airport.
Justifying the need for a second airport within 70 km of the IGI Airport, UP government officials cited an Airports Authority of India (AAI) study stating that by 2015-16, air traffic at the IGI will hit the 108-million-mark, which would lead to severe congestion.
Late last year, civil aviation minister Praful Patel had said that the airport could not be cleared till the greenfield airport policy?a policy to governs all new airports in the country?was cleared.
According to ministry officials, intense lobbying for the airport has led to a change in the present policy.
The GoM, to look into the project, will include finance minister P Chidambaram, law minister HR Bharadwaj, science and technology minister Kapil Sibal and Praful Patel.
Reacting to the government?s move, DIAL reiterated its stand of not being against the project but was only against the timing as the existence of a new airport would eat into IGI?s revenues leading to two weak airports.