 "Gurgaon-Jaipur expressway considered for Rs 33,000 crore")
The Uttar Pradesh government has sought central finance assistance of Rs 5,000 crore for the proposed Lucknow-Ballia Purvanchal Expressway, which is estimated to cost nearly Rs 18,000 crore.
The demand for central aid is a major departure from the earlier stance of the ruling Samajwadi Party government, which had, on several occasions and platforms, reiterated it would build the 350 km expressway using its own resources.
The government is already funding the under-construction 302 km Agra-Lucknow Expressway, which is the most ambitious project of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. It is estimated to cost nearly Rs 15,000 crore. UP had decided to state fund the project after it failed to take off under the public private partnership (PPP) route.
Later, the government proposed another mega expressway project to link eastern UP region (Purvanchal) with the state capital. The idea was to provide seamless connectivity between Purvanchal and the national capital region (NCR) via Purvanchal Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the 165 km long Yamuna Expressway, which is already operational.
In the pre-budget meeting with union finance minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi recently, UP planning commission deputy chairman Naveen Chandra Bajpai, on behalf of Yadav, said Purvanchal Expressway was aimed at alleviating the backwardness of the region through infrastructure development.
He asserted the Expressway would generate employment and boost economic activities on a large scale. The land acquisition cost of the project is pegged at Rs 3,500 crore.
The proposed 8-lane Purvanchal Expressway would traverse 10 UP districts viz. Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur and Ballia. Azamgarh is the parliamentary constituency of SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The state nodal agency UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) is working closely with the respective district administration for ensuring land sale deeds were signed with the owners through mutual consent.
The Expressway is projected to cut travel time between Lucknow and Ballia to less than five hours, thus allowing farmers to speedily transport farm produce to mandis for better prices.
The bidding process for selecting private companies, who would be awarded the contract to build the expressway in eight packages under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract route is underway.
Meanwhile, Agra-Lucknow Expressway is projected to be operational before December 2016. It spans 10 districts viz. Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kannauj, Kanpur City, Unnao, Hardoi and Lucknow. It also follows EPC route and estimated to cost Rs 15,000 crore.
