Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh thanked the Centre for giving clearance to the project and in a veiled dig at the previous Samajwadi Party government, said the project was stuck and delayed due to “political reasons”.
Mr. Singh said that the new airport, which will be able to handle 50 million passengers a year, will bring development to areas such as Meerut and Ghaziabad, while boosting industrialisation in Greater Noida and benefiting tourism as it is close to Agra and Mathura.
Explaining the need for the new airport, he said traffic at the Delhi airport was increasing at a fast pace and it would reach its passenger capacity by 2024 — about the time that the new airport will begin operations.