The foundation stone laying ceremony for the Greenfield Noida International Airport at Jewar may occur during Navratri in October.

“We did not get any specific date for the event yet, but it is likely to happen during the Navratri festival,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Yeida and Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL).

“Switzerland company Zurich AG, the concessionaire of the airport project, has started work on the ground. The state government will have to decide about the foundation or stone laying ceremony. We are focused on commencing commercial operations within the next three years, and on improving accessibility and connectivity of the Yamuna Expressway region with other parts of the national capital region (NCR),” CEO Singh told Hindustan Times.

Reportedly, the demise of veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Kalyan Singh, and the turmoil in Afghanistan are the reasons for the delay of the foundation stone laying ceremony, which was scheduled to take place in August-end or September.

When the first phase becomes operational in 2023, the Jewar International Airport will handle around 12 million passengers every year.

The project will be spread over an area of 5,000 hectares and may have six to eight runways.

Along with metro connectivity to IGI Airport, Noida International Airport at Jewar will also have connectivity to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway with a spur route.

The construction work for this airport project was started on 23 August in Uttar Pradesh’s Jewar.