Gr Noida airport faces further delay

The 150-km clause in the agreement between civil aviation ministry and the GMR-led consortium that bars any airport to come up within 150 kilometre of Delhi airport is turning out to be quite a headache for the government. The consortium is incharge of Delhi airport modernisation.
The law ministry, which has been examining the proposal of Greenfield Taj International Aviation Hub (TIAH) in Jewar near Greater Noida ever since a GoM was constituted in February, has now decided to refer the issue to the attorney general of India. The move may cause further delays for the Rs 5,000 crore project.
The GoM, with the law ministry, was to look into implicit and explicit agreements signed with the operators of the Delhi's IGI airport, located just 70 km away from IGI and assess if the proposed airport would violate contractual obligations. Sources in the civil aviation ministry said the Jewar project-first conceptualised in 2001 by the then Mayawati government-is now likely to take even longer.
“The proposal for the airport has been passed on to the attorney general for a view by the law ministry. It is unlikely that it would be approved now, given the current political situation,” sources said. “The law ministry has been surveying the issue for more than four months now,” he added. While the civil aviation ministry had forwarded a favorable assessment of the Jewar project to the law ministry well over six months ago, the latter is yet to come back with a view.
21/08/08 Shauvik Ghosh/Financial Express

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, New Aug 2008