City’s first heliport likely in Punjabi Bagh

“An Indian Oil depot at Punjabi Bagh is in the process of being relocated and we have identified it as a probable site for a heliport. With good connectivity — the Ring Road runs in front of the plot and a Metro line is coming to the area — this is definitely a viable site for a heliport. Also, there is no high-rise building in the vicinity. This has been conveyed to the DDA and some of its officials were taken for an aerial tour of the area recently,” says a senior official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The DDA, it is learnt, is keen to work with the ministry as a partner on the project and may offer the land free of cost for developing the facility. The Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited (PHHL), however, is likely to hold a majority stake.

The ministry is also holding talks with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments for another heliport in the NCR.

Uttar Pradesh is keen on a heliport in Greater Noida and was planning to develop it on its own but the ministry has proposed that it will operate it on their behalf through the PHHL. In Haryana, the ministry wanted a site near Gurgaon but the Haryana government was offering one at Jhajjar. Since that will be too far to attract potential helicopter passengers, Noida is more likely to serve as the second heliport site.

For the Delhi project, Punjabi Bagh came as a last resort after its request for a heliport off Akshardham temple near the under-construction Commonwealth Games Village was turned down by the DDA, which has issued an embargo on all construction activity on the Yamuna riverbed. The DDA proposed locations like Narela, Gazipur and Model Town, claiming that upcoming world-class infrastructure would make it viable for the heliport project. The ministry, however, did not find them feasible.

The DDA, which was otherwise planning a disaster management centre at the Punjabi Bagh site, now seems to have come around to the view that it will serve well as a heliport.

The ministry, it is learnt, is already running late by four months for the Delhi heliport and hence actively pursuing the NCR options, planning a public private partnership model for its development.