While addressing a gathering during the foundation-laying ceremony of the Jewar International Airport yesterday, on November 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed as an upcoming logistics gateway of northern India. He added that the infrastructure project will have multiple benefits like generating employment and boosting tourism.

“The Noida International Airport puts Jewar on international map today. The airport will be the logistics gateway of north India and also boast of an integrated multi-nodal cargo hub. It will fast track development of the state”, PM Modi said. 

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The Prime Minister added that the airport will also have a full-fledged maintenance, repair and overhauling facility spread over 40 acres (16 hectares), which will save Rs 150 billion spent annually on maintenance and repair of aircraft in the country. He pointed out that 85 per cent of maintenance and repair works of aircraft is presently done in foreign countries. PM Modi noted that the amount was significant given the fact that the total cost of the airport was about Rs 30,000 crore.

Taking a swipe at the previous governments at the Centre and in the state, PM Modi said: “For them, infrastructure is not a matter of policy, but politics, and projects exist on paper and in announcements only. Hence, their projects never see the light of the day. As for us, building infrastructure is part of our national policy and patriotism. So, you see so many development projects taking place simultaneously on the ground.”

Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was present at the foundation laying ceremony stated that the airport will attract investments worth Rs 600 billion and provide jobs to 100,000 people.

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At present, Uttar Pradesh has 8 operational airports, while 13 airports and 7 airstrips are being developed. The operational airports handling commercial flights in UP are Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj and Hindon (Ghaziabad.)