The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed an agreement with Welspun Enterprises for development of the first phase of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
"Under the concession agreement, Welspun Delhi Meerut Expressway Private Ltd will develop package I of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway at a bid project cost of Rs 841.50 crore, and operate it for a period of 15 years," Welspun Enterprises said today.
Welspun Delhi Meerut Expressway, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Welspun Enterprises, said during construction, 40 per cent of the bridge project cost will be funded by NHAI while the concessionaire will arrange the balance 60 per cent.
"During the operation period, NHAI will pay concessionaire this 60 per cent in semi-annuity, along with interest thereon," it said.
NHAI will also pay the concessionaire annualised operations and maintenance cost of Rs 3.95 crore for the maintenance of the project road during this period.
The company said construction of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2.5 years and the project is to be maintained for 15 years after which it will be transferred to NHAI.
The concession is for development of 8.7 km of the existing road on up to Delhi-UP border section of National Highway No 24 in Delhi by six-laning expressway and four-laning either side of the expressway on design, build, operate and transfer annuity or hybrid annuity basis.
Yetserday, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari reiterated that his Ministry was making all efforts to complete the expressway project in 400 days as per the Prime Minister's instruction.
While laying the foundation of the project at Noida on December 31 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said the Rs 7,566-crore Delhi-Meerut Expressway will show a way to freedom from pollution.
The project includes construction of 28-km long 14-lane Delhi-Dasna section.
The project work has been divided into six packages -
21-km stretch in Sonepat-Baghpat, 24.5 km stretch in Baghpat- Ghaziabad, 24.5-km stretch in Ghaziabad-GB Nagar, 22-km stretch in GN Nagar, 21-km stretch in GN Nagar-Faridabad and 22-km stretch in Faridabad-Palwal.
"There are a total of 390 structures in this project out of which two major bridges are on river Yamuna and one major bridge on river Hindon and Agra Canal," Chandra said.
"There are 8 interchanges, 4 flyovers, 71 vehicle underpasses, 6 RoBs etc. The work has been started on 209 structures including all the four major bridges. There is substantial progress on these," the NHAI Chief said.
There has been a very healthy competition among all the developers -- Gayatri Projects, Oriental Structural, Sadbhav Engineering, Jaiprakash Associates and Ashoka Buildcon.
Watering for the project will be carried out through dip irrigation to save water, Chandra said, adding, "the entire lighting on the expressway shall be with solar power. There is a close tolling system. The user will have to pay for the distance travelled by him on the expressway.
"The advanced electronic toll system will be used for collection. The overloaded vehicles will not be allowed to travel on expressway".
According to data available, NHAI has already transferred Rs 1,530 crore for land compensation.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has earlier said, "The government is committed to decongesting Delhi. We have set an ambitious target. This is to complete the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressway in 400 days."
Earlier, the deadline for the project was set as two-and-a-half years.
