IRB Infrastructure Developers has achieved financial closure for Group 1 of the greenfield Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.

The 594 km long and six-lane Ganga expressway has been divided into four groups to expedite work, each consisting of three packages.

While IRB bagged group 1 to be built with Rs 6,538 crore, Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) has won contracts from UPEIDA to build three groups of the Ganga Expressway project in a deal worth Rs 17,085.16 crore.

Group 1 comprises a 129.7-km six-lane greenfield expressway corridor between Meerut and Badaun.

IRB has secured financing of Rs 2,659 crore from the lenders, Rs 2,133 crore committed as equity infusion and a viable gap funding (VGF) of Rs 1,746 crore, reports Business Line.

“This is the largest greenfield BOT (build, operate and transfer) project in our portfolio. We are grateful to our lenders for their trust and confidence in our domain expertise and execution capabilities,” Virendra D. Mhaiskar, Chairman and Managing Director, IRB Infra, said.

594 km long Ganga Expressway starts from NH-334 near the Bijauli village in the Meerut district and terminates at Prayagraj Bypass on NH-19 near Judapur Dandu village.

Traversing through 12 districts — Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareilly, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj — the expressway would connect the eastern and western parts of the state.

Also, the state government has plans to extend the expressway at both ends — by 110 km from Meerut to Tigri on the Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand border and by 314 km from Prayagraj to Ballia, in the second phase of the project.