UP chief secy to lay foundation stone of cloverleaf interchange of two expressways

In the absence of the loop, motorists from Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi face inconvenience in reaching EPE as they have to travel through several congested villages such as Kasna and Ghangola.

Uttar Pradesh chief secretary DS Mishra will lay the foundation stone of the much awaited cloverleaf interchange loop that will seamlessly connect Yamuna Expressway with the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) on December 15.

The cloverleaf loop is crucial to provide direct connectivity from the upcoming Jewar airport and Delhi-NCR via the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (above), said officials. (HT Archive)

The work was supposed to be started in 2018-19 but the construction got disrupted owing to a land dispute between farmers and the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida), which has now been resolved. Yeida officials said the dispute has been resolved and they have started distribution of the compensation money to farmers, who have agreed to give their land for the project.

The loop is crucial to provide direct connectivity from the upcoming Jewar airport and Delhi-NCR via the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. In the absence of the loop, motorists from Noida, Greater Noida and Delhi face inconvenience in reaching EPE as they have to travel through several congested villages such as Kasna and Ghangola.

“As farmers’ issues have been resolved amicably, the work will start at the site soon after the chief secretary lays the foundation stone on December 15. As the construction agency was already been hired in 2019, the project will commence effortlessly with an aim to provide ease to thousands of commuters. The interchange will come up near the Budh International racing circuit on 57 hectares of land,” said Arun Vir Singh, chief executive officer, Yeida.

Yeida officials said the work on this project was delayed because farmers refused to give up their land for the project as they wanted additional compensation.

“Yeida, in 2000, acquired the land at a rate of ₹1,300 per square metre (sqm). But in 2008, the government bought land for Eastern Peripheral Expressway and other projects at a rate of ₹3,500 per sqm. We, therefore, demanded that we be given more compensation. We had filed a writ in the Allahabad high court demanding compensation at the rate of ₹3,500 per square metre,” said Mukesh Kumar, a farmer from Afzalpur.

Yeida started handing out compensations at a rate of ₹1,300 per sqm with the condition that the Allahabad high court’s ruling will be accepted by both parties.

The authority has already handed over compensation to 23 farmers out of 100, said officials.

Yeida was scheduled to start work on the loop, to be built at a cost of ₹83.94 crore, by July 2019. The authority, in June 2019, issued a tender and hired a contractor for the project. It had fixed a deadline of 18 months for the project from the day the work starts on the ground. But now the project cost has been escalated to ₹143 crore, said Yeida.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which built the 135km Eastern Peripheral Expressway, will fund the project and Yeida will construct the entry and exit to connect the two important expressways. The EPE passes above the 165km Yamuna Expressway, near the Noida International University and Galgotias University campuses.