Akhilesh Yadav government signs pact for India's longest six lane access controlled expressway

LUCKNOW: In a major step forward towards building India’s longest six lane access controlled expressway, the Akhilesh Yadav government on Wednesday signed the agreement with private companies who bid the lowest for constructing it.

The agreement was signed by UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority ( UPEIDA), Chairman and CEO, Navneet Sehgal on behalf of the state government and representatives of the four companies tasked to build it.

The expressway has been divided into five stretches for handing out the contracts. In the EPC (Engineering-Procurement-Construction) based bidding process L&T had emerged as the lowest bidder for the Lucknow to Unnao stretch, Afcons Infrastructure for Unnao to Kannauj, Nagarjuna Construction Company for Kannauj to Etawah, Afcons Infrastructure for Etawah to Firozabad and PNC Infratech for Firozabad to Agra. The lowest bidders were declared on August 13 and the MoU with these companies were signed on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan.

Talking about the project, Navneet Sehgal said that the 302 km long Lucknow to Agra Expressway would be the country longest access controlled six lane expressway. He said that the project would cost nearly 15,000 crore of which Rs 11,526 crore would be for construction of the expressway and the rest for purchasing land at market rates.

The big plus for the project has been the fast paced acquisition of land. Sehgal said that more than 75 per cent of the land needed has already been acquired and the remaining too would be in possession shortly. A total 3,100 hectares of land is needed for construction of the expressway of which 2300 hectares has already been acquired by the government.

The six lane expressway would be 110 meters wide and would cut down travel time from Lucknow to Agra from existing eight hours to less than four hours.

Interestingly the expressway would pass through the Yadav fiefdom of Etawah, Mainpuri and Kannauj and also link the industrial town of Kanpur.

The Lucknow to Agra expressway is one of the pet projects of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav which has now been set rolling. Sehgal said that it will link Lucknow to the west UP region bringing rapid economic growth to the entire region. Officials said that the expressway construction is expected to be completed in three years time.