The Government of India's plan to set up Greenfield Airports is set to become a game-changer in the country's aviation sector. Under the plan, 21 Greenfield Airports will be developed across the country. The estimated cost of development, expansion, and upgradation of the airports is Rs 91,000 crores in the next four to five years.

In his address to the joint session of the Indian Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind mentioned the Greenfield Airports with special mention of the country's biggest airport that is coming up at Gautam Buddha Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

He also mentioned the development of airports in the North East and said, "This development of the North East will prove to be a golden chapter in India's growth story."

In a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "Upgradation, modernisation of airports is a continuous process and is undertaken by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and other airport developers from time to time depending on the availability of land, commercial viability, socio-economic considerations, traffic demand and willingness of airlines to operate to and from such airports."

With the in-principle approval to set up a new greenfield international airport at Jewar, Noida, in 2018, the government of India set the ball rolling for the country's one of the most ambitious projects in the aviation sector.

For this, the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh appointed Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) implementing agency for the project under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. The Government of Uttar Pradesh (GoUP) has awarded the project to M/s Zurich Airport International AG for development of the airport.

As for work progress, the GoUP has informed that the task of acquisition of 1,334 hectare of land for Phase-I of the project has been completed and the possession of the land has been obtained.

The forecast for initial year traffic is four million passengers per annum (MPPA) as per the master plan. The initial capacity of the airport for phase 1, however, is projected at 12 MPPA. The estimated project cost for Phase I is Rs 8,914 crore, including the land acquisition cost. As per the Concession Agreement, the scheduled completion date of the airport is September 29, 2024.

Other airport projects, which have got the Union Government's in-principle approval, are Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Bijapur, Hassan and Shimoga in Karnataka, Datia (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Hollongi (Itanagar) in Arunachal Pradesh.

The airports accorded approval at Mopa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi, Noida (Jewar), Dholera, Hirasar, Bhogapuram, Kannur and Kushinagar are international airports and remaining are domestic airports. Out of these, eight airports namely Durgapur, Shirdi, Sindhudurg, Pakyong, Kannur, Kalaburagi, Oravakal and Kushinagar have been operationalised.

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