The construction work on phase-1 of the first terminal building, first runway, air traffic control (ATC) tower and other facilities of the Noida international airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh will begin next month.

Initially, the airport will start operations only with one runway and with a capacity of handling 12 million passengers per annum. The first runway will be 3,900m-long and 45m-wide.

The project's first phase is targeted to be completed by September 2024. PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for this greenfield airport in November 2021.

Three agencies, namely L&T Construction, Tata Projects and Shapoorji Pallonji, have participated in the bidding process for phase-1 of the project, which will spread over 1,327 hectares of land.

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) recently approved the Noida international airport's development plan at the Noida International Airport Limited's (NIAL) board meeting held in Lucknow.

"Now, the construction of the terminals, runways and other facilities will take place according to the development plan sanctioned by the board. The work will have to be completed within the stipulated deadline approved in the development plan. The work will be reviewed every month," Arun Vir Singh, CEO of YEIDA and NIAL, told Hindustan Times.

"There will be 10 entries for domestic passengers, two for international passengers, 10 migration desks and 48 checkpoints. We will build a 2.8 MLD (million litres a day) water treatment plant and a 6.28 MLD sewage treatment plant for drinking water purposes and treating the sewage," he added.

Spread over an area of 5,000 hectares, Noida international airport is estimated to become India's largest airport upon completing all the project phases.

Under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, the airport will be executed by the international bidder Zurich Airport International AG as concessionaire, in close partnership with Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India.