Conditional letter of award for Jewar airport project handed to developer

The conditional letter of award pertaining to the Noida International Greenfield Airport, Jewar, was handed over to CEO of Zurich Airport International AG Daniel Bircher on Monday here, the UP government said.

"In the presence of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, conditional letter of award pertaining to the Noida International Greenfield Airport, Jewar, was handed over to CEO of Zurich Airport International AG Daniel Bircher by UP Chief Secretary RK Tiwari," it said in a statement.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the development of the airport will be done in a time-bound manner. On Dec 9, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved Zurich Airport International as developer for Jewar airport.

The formal approval of the Uttar Pradesh government comes after a bidding process in which Zurich Airport beat Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Adani Enterprises and Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Limited on Nov 29.

The winning bid was then put up before the project monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC) of the state government, before being forwarded to the Cabinet.

"Four bids had come for the airport. On the basis of weighted averages, Zurich Airport International was chosen," UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh had then said.

The Swiss firm offered a premium of Rs 400.97 per passenger to the government, the highest among the bidders. "We are of the view that the construction work for Jewar airport will begin in February next year," the minister had said.

The airport in Gautam Buddh Nagar district will be the third in the National Capital Region after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport and Ghaziabad's Hindon.

The Jewar Airport or the Noida International Greenfield Airport will be spread over 5,000 hectares when fully built at an estimated to cost Rs 29,560 crore, officials have said.

It is expected to have six to eight runways, the maximum at an airport in India, when fully built. The first phase of the airport would be spread over 1,334 hectares and completed by 2023, according to officials.

Zurich Airport AG is currently involved in eight airports in Latin America.