The DDA had shortlisted three sites for the purpose — at Narela in outer Delhi, Ghazipur at Delhi-UP border and Model Town in north Delhi.

“We are still grappling with a site problem in Delhi as the three sites proposed for heliport don’t serve our purpose. After all, what is the point of having a passenger de-board at such distant locations? We had requested for a site near Akshardham temple off Mayur Vihar as it would be just 10 minutes away from the airport and would attract considerable traffic. While Delhi is our first choice, if we do not get any good site here we will have to look elsewhere. We will soon be starting discussions with the Haryana government for a site in Gurgaon,” said a senior official in the ministry.

With the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway almost complete, the road connectivity between the two cities has improved, because of which Gurgaon has become a possible choice for the heliport, the official said.

According to the ministry, only 20 to 25 acres are required for the heliport complete with a runway, hangar area and a small terminal. Uttar Pradesh has already offered a site in Greater Noida for the project. DDA is avoiding the Mayur Vihar site near Akshardham as environmentalists have been vehemently opposing any construction on the Yamuna riverbed.

“With the Commonwealth Games approaching, the heliport is very high on our agenda. In fact, the Cabinet Secretariat is also taking up the mater now. We have held meetings with the DDA to try and provide a more suitable site. We want to expedite this because it will take almost one-and-a-half years to develop the heliport once we are given possession of the land,” added the official.

Pawan Hans will be the nodal agency for implementation of the heliport project which will cost over Rs 50 crore, depending on the cost of land. For a similar project in Mumbai, a site has been proposed at Nariman Point, on a floating jetty a la Manhattan heliport, officials said.