Metro rail from Greater Noida to Jewar airport by 2023

A new metro rail line will run between Greater Noida and go up to the upcoming Jewar airport by 2023, the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority announced on Thursday.

YEIDA also sanctioned Rs 83.94 crore for a road that will connect the Eastern Peripheral Highway with the Yamuna Expressway and cut travel time by one hour for passengers commuting from Greater Noida to Palwal, Faridabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat, Sonipat, and Panipat.

The announcements were made after the 65th Board Meeting of the YEIDA, which manages development of region along the 165-km-long Yamuna Expressway, by its Chief Executive Officer Arun Vir Singh.

"The proposal for the metro rail was presented during the board meeting and it has been approved. It would now be sent to the state government," he said.

"The new metro rail line will have dedicated tracks, one for taking passengers directly to the Jewar airport and the other for commutation within the sectors here. The project will cost Rs 7,000 crore and YEIDA has allocated Rs 500 crore for it from its annual budget during the board meeting," he told reporters.

The CEO said the proposed metro project "does not have economic feasibility" at present due to less commuters to Jewar but it is essential keeping in view the projected growth of the region where an international airport is coming up.

"We have set a timeline to complete the metro project by 2023 and launch both the projects, that is the first phase of the airport and the metro rail, on the same day," he said.

The metro rail corridor will begin from the Knowledge Park II metro station and go up to the international airport in Jewar, covering a distance of 32 km, Singh, who is also the CEO of Noida International Airport Limited, said.

He said the funding pattern for the budget allotted to the metro rail project will be decided by the Uttar Pradesh government.

To further bolster road connectivity in the region, he said the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be connected to the Yamuna Expressway via an interchange road.

"For this, Rs 83.94 crore has been allotted in this year's budget of YEIDA," Singh said.

"The development of this interchange will cut the journey time by one hour for people travelling to and from Greater Noida to Palwal Faridabad Ghaziabad Baghpat Sonipat Panipat. This project is expected to be completed in 18 months but we are hoping that it would be ready within one year," he added.

During the 65th board meeting, YEIDA presented its annual budget, showing targeted revenue of Rs 2,223 crore and initial expenditure of Rs 1,461 crore in loans, among others, according to officials.

For villages, a budget of Rs 103 crore has been allocated and YEIDA has announced developing five "smart villages" with an expenditure of Rs 49.30 crore.

"These smart villages will have city-like amenities of water, sewerage, power supply, streets, health care facilities, sanitary pad manufacturing units, e-chaupaal, and internet facilities," Singh said, stressing it is the first of its kind project taken up by YEIDA.

"This would be done in the first phase of the smart villages project and later five more villages will be taken up for development similarly. The detailed project reports are ready and work has been on it for one-and-a-half years now," he added.

Altogether 10 villages will be developed as smart villages in 2019-20 with an expenditure of Rs 80 crore, he said.

Singh said in 2018-19, YEIDA's loan amount stood at Rs 350 crore, down from Rs 400 crore in he previous fiscal.