Examining Pros and Cons as Jewar Airport Takes Off from Files To Ground

Ashish Kedia TEN NEWS
 

(10/04/17) Noida : Incumbent Government of Uttar Pradesh under CM Yogi Adityanath has once again revived the long pending Jewar Airport project. The airport that is expected to come along 165 Km long Yamuna Expressway has been proposed long ago but not much progress was made on ground.

With CM directing concerned officials to expedite the Jewar airport work, now it seems like this 2001 project may finally get to see the light of the day.

However people of Greater Noida and Noida seem to have divided opinions over the airport projects. While some say that it would ease their transportation requirements others say that considering environmental constraints as well as Noida’s central location between Jewar and IGI, the new airport doesn’t seem like a viable project.

Let us take a look at different pros and cons of the upcoming project to get better insights of all the relevant factors.

Expected benefits of proposed Jewar Airport

Market researchers are of the opinion that Jewar airport would directly benefit real-estate sector, import-export business as well as would result in more job generations in and around Noida. Hotel industry and tourism sector may also see a boom when the project comes to ground.
Abhishek Sharma, a Noida based entrepreneur says, “A lot of foreign clients avoid visiting Noida just because of its distance from the Airport.

Gurgaon Comparison:

While Gurgaon already has over a dozen fortune 500 MNC’s in its kitty, Noida still lags behind for being little off the route. With Jewar airport being operational we can expect that Noida will fall between Airport-Delhi routes and thus would be more accessible for international and national clients”.

Tourism sector representatives have also appreciated the move and are expecting better business after the development of proposed project. Most Agra bound tourists who currently alight at IGI and prefer to stay in Delhi or Gurgaon hotels may in future generate revenues for Noida tourism sector. Hotel owners, taxi providers and food joints may be direct beneficiaries from this segment of customers.

Medical tourism in Noida and Greater Noida may also witness a rise in number of hospitals as well as International patients after the development of airport. Currently most International patient keeps themselves limited to Gurgaon and South Delhi hospitals only.
Rajeev Goyal from NPCL said, “With Jewar Airport we can expect about 1 million more Agra-Mathura bound tourists in the region. We need to have development oriented outlook and focus on making Noida-greater Noida as world class cities”.

Noida residents also believe that compared to current journey of about 90 to 120 minutes from their homes to Indira Gandhi Airport the proposed Jewar Airport will reduce travel time to about 40-50 minutes.
Present Delhi Airport would cross its passenger carrying capacity by 2021 as passenger flow is expected to increase to about 10 crore annually. Even residents from 35 villages marked for airport development are whole-heartedly supporting the project in hope of development it would bring to the region.

Not Very Viable, Could Be Better Utilized Elsewhere:

However the Jewar Airport project has also invited its fair share of criticism. Many social-thinkers are calling it an avoidable hazard for already depleting environmental condition of Delhi/NCR. Even the existing norm of having only-one airport in 150-km radius is tweaked for construction of Jewar airport.

There are also concerns of the project turning into another white elephant such as Chandigarh International airport which had failed to start international operations for very long. Economic burden of constructing and maintaining an airport isn’t any less either. Since 2009 India has spent $50 million on eight airports that did not receive scheduled flight operations.

Dr R S Rai from Noida voiced his apprehensions about the project and said,”I appreciate that many learned citizens are hopeful with another upcoming airport in nearby region however I have my heart with farmers who should not lose their livelihood for sake of development. Also it could have been better if same as Noida, Agra being such an International destination would also have got priority”.

Conclusion

Even before the first brick of Jewar airport has been laid, there are already so much of concerns as well as hope. Every development project howsoever big or small has to go through some doubts, concerns and in some cases even protests. While analyzing both sides of the story it is necessary to have a futuristic approach. Sustainable development should be the core idea of every such large-scale project.
With every passing year air-travel is becoming cheaper and more & more people are opting for air-travel. Time has become the most precious currency of the modern period and is often measured in distance while travelling. Proximity of Noida and Greater Noida from the proposed airport would undoubtedly bring many more development projects in the region. This in turn would not only benefit the civic facilities, sanitation, road and power but would also help in creating more jobs.
As Heraclitus, a Greek Philosopher once said, “Change is the only constant in life”, so let’s all hope for the best and wait for the much anticipated project to materialize.