New Delhi, Mar 1 (IANS): The Noida International Airport (NIA) on Monday entered into a 'state support agreement' with UP state government.

Accordingly, the agreement lays down the state government's support to establish and continuously improve surface access to the airport, establish and expand utilities required to run the facility, maintain law and order, including monitoring at the key installations and grant the necessary clearances to build and operate this infrastructure project.

The move is expected to accelerate the enhancement of surface access to the airport with projects such as the Metro extension from Greater Noida to NIA terminal, the integration of an airport terminal station for the upcoming Delhi-Varanasi high-speed rail link, as well as the link highway to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

The upcoming greenfield airport for Delhi-NCR, Noida and Western UP catchment area is expected to provide a boost to the sector. Besides, NIA is envisaged to become India's first net zero emission airport and is planning to produce and consume renewable energy.

At present, it is engaging in active discussions with the UP government on supporting measures such as VAT or GST exemptions on procurement of equipment related renewable energy, on cross subsidy charges and wheeling or transmission charges as well as on exemptions on open access charges to make the sustainability investments financially viable.