UP Cabinet clears proposal for Rs 36K cr Ganga Expressway

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to the state government’s proposal for implementation of the Rs 36,402 crore Ganga Expressway project. The district-wise alignment of the 595-km long expressway was also approved.

The construction of the expressway will provide smooth and fast traffic movement from Haridwar in Uttarakahand to Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, almost parallel to the Ganga.

In addition, the traffic coming through the waterway being developed from Haldia to Varanasi will be able to travel easily to Delhi and other states via Prayagraj.

The other proposals cleared were: providing free land owned by the gram sabha, purchase/acquisition of land, annual budget, loan taken from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO), the process for monetisation of Agra-Lucknow Expressway for raising additional financial resources, selecting a technical advisor for adopting toll, besides operation and transfer method for monetisation of Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

The cabinet took these decisions at a meeting chaired by chief minister Adityanath.

In a statement, the government said for the implementation of the project, funds will be withdrawn from the treasury after money raised from monetization of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway had been deposited.

A high-powered committee for procedural and operational decisions regarding monetisation of Agra-Lucknow Expressway will be set up. The cabinet also authorised the chief minister to take policy decisions on the recommendation of the committee.

The process and draft format for inviting expression of interest (EOI) from the investors on public private partnership (PPP) model for seeking possibilities for funding the construction of the project was also approved. It was also decided that if there was difficulty in executing the work under PPP mode, other options presented by the administrative department would be considered.

The Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has been instructed to perform preparatory operations in time. Approval has also been given to take action on the option of foreign direct investment (FDI). In addition, SBI Capital Market Limited has been nominated as the financial advisor of the project.