Hindon elevated road project: GDA gets Rs210 crore loan instalment from NCRPB

Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) officials said that they have received an installment of R210 crore from the NCR planning board (NCRPB) for the authority’s Hindon elevated road project.

Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) officials said that they have received an installment of Rs210 crore from the NCR planning board (NCRPB) for the authority’s Hindon elevated road project.

The NCRPB had in January announced that it would provide a loan of Rs700 crore for the project. (Sakib Ali/HT)

The NCRPB had in January announced that it would provide a loan of Rs700 crore for the development of the six-lane elevated road project in Ghaziabad. The project has been pegged at Rs1,247 crore and is slated to be completed by April 2017.

“We were only able to get a loan of Rs 400 crore sanctioned from the NCRPB. We have just received the first installment of Rs 210 crore and this will help us expedite the project,” said AK Gupta, chief engineer, GDA.

“The remaining amount is being invested by the GDA out of its infrastructure development funds (IDF). So far, we have also been able to get nearly Rs 450 crore sanctioned from the IDF. The balance amount will be taken up for sanction in the next IDF meeting,” he added.

GDA officials said that the first phase of the of the 10.3 km project, from Raj Nagar Extension to Vasundhara, has been delayed by two months, but the second phase from Vasundhara to UP Gate is on time.

Meanwhile, engineering department officials said that they had obtained clearances for two major flyovers at Raj Nagar Extension and Vasundhara. The proposed flyovers were earlier in the way of the proposed Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) corridor, which is to be built on an elevated track from Delhi to Meerut.

“Now, we will not have to change the design of the two flyovers and they will be constructed as proposed earlier. The RRTS agencies have made changes to their design,” Gupta added.

NGT reserves order on elevated road project petition

Meanwhile, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by a Ghaziabad resident in connection with the 10.3 km Hindon elevated road project.

Earlier in July, the tribunal had granted a stay on the construction of the road project over two chunks of land, in response to the petitioner Sushil Raghav’s contention that the project had been started without getting environment clearance (EC).

The tribunal had given the GDA time to file an affidavit over the issue and stopped all construction on the land.

The petitioner, Raghav, said, “In our petition, we had requested the court to restore water bodies in 11 chunks of land in the area. These included two chunks where the GDA is constructing the road project, which is spread over nearly 77 bighas and was meant for the development of a bird sanctuary. We had also sought the removal of unauthorised constructions and raised the issue of EC for the road project.”

GDA officials had earlier told the NGT court that the elevated road was being built as it was not possible to widen the existing ground road because of the presence of a green belt and protected forest area.

Environment clearance was not required for its construction as it was an extension of an existing master plan, they said.

“During the final arguments, we maintained that an EC was not required for the project. The court reserved the order after the arguments,” said Chakresh Jain, executive engineer, GDA.