JP Industries awarded Rs 30,000 cr Ganga Expressway Project

Lucknow, Jan 17 (UNI) Jai Prakash Industries was today awarded the prestigious mega 1000 km ultra modern eight-lane Rs 30,000 crore Ganga Expressway project -- the most ambitious project of Uttar Pradesh government.

Claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, the project involves construction of eight-lane Ganga Expressway from Noida to Ballia on the left bank of the river Ganga.

Approval for awarding the project to JP Industries was okayed at the State Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mayawati here this evening.

The Cabinet gave the approval after accepting the recommendations of the empowered committee in this regard.

The contract was given to JP Industries after the company's quoted combined price of four packages was found to be the lowest among the 14 qualified bidders, UP Industrial Development Commissioner Atul Gupta told reporters.

Mr Gupta said the JP Industries had to sign a concession agreement with the state government within two months and after that it had to declare the financial closure within nine months.

''We hope the physical work will start by the end of this calender year and will take further four yrs to get completed,'' he said.

This would be the second expressway in the state after the 145 km Taj Expressway between Noida and Agra, which has been delayed for the last five years due to legal problems.

After completion of the project, the travel time between National Capital Region (NCR) and Ballia would be cut short to ten hours with multi-facet development along the route.

The Ganga Expressway will be connected through four link expressways -- Jhansi-Kanpur-Lucknow-Gorakhpur-Kushinagar, Ghaziabad-Saharanpur-Hardwar, Lucknow-Barabanki-Nanpara, Agra-Kanpur and Bijnour-Moradabad-Fatehgarh.

''There will be minimum displacement and land acquisition as the expressway would be constructed on the left bank of Ganga, while all the major cities, including Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and others are on the right side of the river,'' the IDC added.

The state government claimed that the project would help in reenergising the traditional industries based in areas like Bhadohi, Kannauj and Khurja and will also help the weavers and craftsmen to improve their economic condition.

Besides, it would also ensure revival of ancient and historic cities like Mirzapur and Bithoor.

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