Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay the foundation stone for the Jewar airport in Gautam Buddh Nagar next month, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said on Wednesday. "The foundation stone laying ceremony for the Jewar airport is likely to be held between February 23 and 25," Sharma, the Gautam Budhh Nagar MP, said. Last week, a metro rail service was launched to connect Noida and Greater Noida and other projects are also underway, including elevated road corridors, he said. "Our government has not only made announcements, but delivered projects," he added.

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"Anybody coming from Meerut can reach the Jewar airport in just 45 minutes. There will not be a single traffic light on the stretch connecting Jewar and Meerut," Sharma said.

The proposed airport, second in the National Capital Region (NCR) after Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, would cost around Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore and is expected to be operational by 2022-23.

Proceedings for acquisition of around 1,300 hectare land for the first phase of the Greenfield airport are underway.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sharma, the Union culture minister, joined Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar for the inauguration of the new campus of the National Museum Institute at Sector 62 in Noida.

"A country of 132 crore people, India is a diverse land inhabiting people of various faiths, castes, languages, and it is the 'sanskriti' (culture) which binds us as one," he said.

The institute, which offers various degree programmes related to museum studies, would help train students and conserve the heritage, Sharma said.