The project was first proposed in 2001 by then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Rajnath Singh as a greenfield Taj International and aviation Hub (TIAH) at Jewar village near Greater Noida, adjacent to the Yamuna Expressway. The Central government cleared the techno-feasibility report for setting up TIAH in April 2003. It was to be built at an approximate cost of 5000 crore by the year 2007-08. The project was put on hold during the UPA regime because the project site was within 150 kilometres of an existing greenfield airport in Delhi. This site was within 72 kilometres of Indira Gandhi International Airport(IGI), Delhi. Its operator, GMR Group had protested against plans for another international airport within 150 kilometres of the existing Delhi airport, claiming that it would impact traffic and revenue generation. GMR has right of first refusal (RoFR) on a new airport within 150 kilometres of the existing Delhi airport. The RoFR was to ensure that GMR gets preference in bidding for the Greater Noida airport in case its bid price is within 10% of the lowest bidder.