Ganga Expressway gets cabinet approval
The 594-km Meerut to Prayagraj controlled-access Ganga Expressway received a go ahead from the cabinet on Thursday. The proposal to develop an airport in Lalitpur also okayed.
: In a push to infrastructure development, the state cabinet on Thursday gave a go ahead to the 594-km Meerut to Prayagraj controlled-access Ganga Expressway, which is to come up at an estimated cost of ₹36, 230 crore. It also approved a proposal to develop Lalitpur airstrip into an airport in Bundelkhand region of the state.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath presided over the meeting of the state cabinet that approved the Greenfield six-lane expressway project, expandable to 8-lane, having a maximum permissible speed limit of 120 km per hour.
Briefing media persons, minister for MSMEs and government spokesman Siddharth Nath Singh said the network of expressway projects coming up in the state would give a push to achieving the objective of making Uttar Pradesh a trillion-dollar economy. He said the RFP (request for proposal) and RFQ (request for quotation) documents had been approved for the project to be implemented on develop, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis under Public Private Partnership model. He said 60-day timeline to complete the bidding for project has been approved.
He said there would be a provision for an airport on the expressway near Shahjahanpur. He said the expressway project would be implemented in four groups (each group having three packages). The estimated cost of the civil works would be ₹22,125 crore while the cost of buying the land is estimated to be ₹22,125 crore.
An official press release claimed the Ganga Expressway project was second largest expressway project in the country that would cover 12 districts and provide smooth connectivity with the state capital, Poorvanchal Expressway, Agra-Lucknow-Yamuna expressway. It said project would lead to creation of about 20,000 jobs.
Singh said the bidding process was being started only after acquiring about 93 percent land for the project. In an obvious indication towards the Samajwadi Party led government, he said the RFP and RFQ should be floated only after acquiring 80 percent land. “Our friends (previous government) launched the Poorvanchal Expressway project without meeting the requirement of acquiring 80 percent land to get support (of concessionaires) in the 2017 assembly elections,” he said. Singh said the chief minister had asked for areas for development of industry along the expressway.
About expansion of Lalitpur airstrip to an international airport, Singh said besides the defence corridor, a drug park was also coming up in Bundelkhand region.
He said there was a need for development of an international airport there as Jhansi airport was not a civil airport. He said 12.79 hectare land of defence ministry would be transferred for the airport and the state cabinet had approved a proposal to transfer a gram sabha land to defence ministry in lieu of this land.