₹801crore budget approved for Chilla elevated road

A committee headed by the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary (finance) approved the budget on March 29, after the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, vetted it following an inspection

More than one and a half years after the Noida authority halted work on the 5.96km Chilla elevated road due to lack of funds, construction will likely resume on the road, which will connect Delhi and Noida, because the state government has approved a ₹801 crore budget for the project.

The authority began construction on the Chilla elevated road on January 25, 2019, but stopped it in March 2020. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

According to officials aware of the matter, a committee headed by the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary (finance) approved the budget on March 29, after the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, vetted it following an inspection.

Officials said the Uttar Pradesh Bridge Corporation, which the authority has already engaged, will likely issue a tender to finalise the private company that will construct the road.

“Now that the finance committee has given its approvals, the bridge corporation will complete the tendering process, after which work will begin on the site,” said Shripal Bhati, deputy general manager of the Noida authority.

In 2018, the Noida authority and the Uttar Pradesh public works department (PWD) agreed to fund this project equally.

The authority began construction on the Chilla elevated road on January 25, 2019, immediately after chief minister Yogi Adityanath laid the project’s foundation stone.

But because PWD had yet to give them the money, the authority had to stop the building work. So during its 200th board meeting in March 2020, the Noida authority asked its staff to halt work on the elevated road. By that point, it had completed roughly 10% of the work on this project using funds from its pocket.

It was also the board’s first decision to halt construction on such a large infrastructure project due to a lack of funds. Officials said that PWD hadn’t given out the money because the committee chaired by the additional chief secretary of finance had not approved the funding pattern.

Before the tendering process begins next month, the state government will complete the necessary work related to fund approvals in April -- while the budget has been approved by the committee, it is yet to be approved by the state cabinet.

According to officials, the authority will complete the project within three years of the start of work on the site.

When finished, this elevated road will relieve traffic congestion on the 2km stretch of the Delhi-Noida link road that connects Delhi’s Mayur Vihar with the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.