Ganga Expressway: 3 Firms In The Fray As Final Bids For 594 KM, Rs 36,230 Crore Project Connecting Meerut and Prayagraj Set To Be Approved This Week

Adani Enterprises, Ashoka Buildcon and IRB Infrastructure Developers are three firms in the fray for the developing Uttar Pradesh's longest expressway project- 594-km long Ganga Expressway - with the bid process likely to be finalised this week, a leading infrastructure tracking portal The Metro Rail Guy reported.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the Ganga Expressway project sometime in December this year.

According to the officials of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), the state government body that will execute the project, around 94 per cent of the land needed for the Ganga Expressway has already been acquired.

"In record time, despite the second wave of Covid-19, we have completed 94 per cent of land acquisition. The tendering process is going on and, in the second week of December probably, the Prime Minister may lay the foundation stone for the expressway project," Durgesh Upadhyay, media advisor to UPEIDA, informed Swarajya earlier this month.

The project has also received clearance from the state-level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.

The proposed Ganga Expressway will be around 594 km long, a 6-lane wide (expandable to eight lanes) greenfield expressway. The expressway will pass through 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh, namely (from west to east) Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahar, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh, and Prayagraj.

The greenfield expressway is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 36,230 crores.

The proposed expressway will cover 140 water bodies. It will have seven road over bridges, 17 interchange roads, 14 big bridges, 126 minor bridges, 28 flyovers, 50 vehicle underpass, 171 light vehicle underpass, 160 small vehicles underpass and 946 culverts.

Tendering Process and funding

While Agra-Lucknow Expressway, recently-inaugurated Purvanchal Expressway and under-construction Bundelkhand expreesway are being fully funded by the state, the Ganga Expressway is being developed on public-private partnership (PPP) mode under Design, Built, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.

Of the Rs 36,230 crore spend for the project , land acquisition would roughly account for Rs 9,255 crore and construction costs for around Rs 22,000 crore.

Ganga Expressway has been divided up into 4 sections for development with each section comprising of 3 civil packages.

Group 1 of the project is a 129.7 km stretch. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5039.85 crore and has packages 1-3 under it.

• Package 1: Village Bijoli (District Meerut) to Village Chandner (District Hapur) - 49 km

• Package 2: Village Chandner (District Hapur) to Village Mirzapur Dugar (Distric..

• Package 3: Mirzapur Dugar (District Amroha) to Village Nagla Barah/Jarenda (District Budaun) - 50.7 km..

Group 2 of the project is a 151.7 km stretch. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5647.71 crore and has packages 2-6 under it.

• Package 4: Village Nagla Barah/Jarenda (District Budaun) to Village Binawar (District Budaun) - 52.1 km

• Package 5: Binawar (District Budaun) to Girdharpur (District Shahjahanpur) - 46.7 km

• Package 6: Village Girdharpur (District Shahjahanpur) to Village-Ubariya Khurd (District Hardoi) - 52.9 km..

Group 3 of the project is a 155.7 km stretch. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5810.99 crore and has packages 7-8 under it.

• Package 7: Village Ubariya Khurd (District Hardoi) to Village-Iksai (District Hardoi) - 52.4 km

• Package 8: Village Iksai (District Hardoi) to Village Raiyamau (District Unnao) - 50.2 km

• Package 9: Village Raiyamau (District Unnao) to Village Sarso (District Unnao) - 53.1 km.

Group 4 of the project is a 156.9 km stretch. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 5626.46 crore and has packages 10-12 under it.

• Package 10: Village Sarso (District Unnao) to Village Terukha (District Raebareli) - 51.8 km.

• Package 11: Village Terukha (District Raebareli) to Village Naudhiya (District Pratapgarh) - 52 km

• Package 12: Village Naudhiya (District Pratapgarh) to Village-Judapur Dando (District Prayagraj) - 53 km.

According to The Metro Rail Guy report, technical bids opened by UPEIDA to revealed that total of 12 bids were received – one for each group – from Adani, Ashoka and IRB.