Ganga expressway: Yogi Adityanath government to seek Rs 1000 cr in supplementary budget

The project, in the first phase to connect 596 kms six lane expressway with Prayagraj to Meerut was announced just before the Lok Sabha polls by the UP government.

Now the government is expected to seek Rs 1000 crore for the project in the supplementary budget to be tabled in the state assembly in the monsoon session which will commence from July 8.

Sources here on Saturday said the government is likely to seek around Rs 1000 crores in the supplementary budget for the Ganga Expressway.

" The total length of the expressway would be 1020 kilometers starting from Ballia to Uttarakhand border connecting Prayagraj, Meerut and Bijnore," sources said.

However, the government would commence the acquisition of land for the purpose only in the first phase between Prayagraj and Meerut after the DPR is submitted and approved.

Earlier, former UP Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati had too announced the ambitious expressway project worth Rs 40,000 crore.

But now the cost has come down to Rs 36,000 crores of the entire project and the entire funding would be done by the government through seeking loans from the financial institutions.

The expressway is being constructed at a distance of 10 km from the river Ganga. This has been done with an aim to comply with the environmental regulations as well as give local residents maximum benefits.

The total length of the Ganga Expressway will be 1020 km. The expressway will be built in two phases. In phase one, 596 km road stretch from Meerut to Prayagraj will be built. In Phase two, 110 km road will be built from Tigri to Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand Border and another section of 314 km will be built from Prayagraj to Ballia.

During Phase 1 of the Ganga Expressway project, the alignment will be done from Meerut to Prayagraj. The phase one of Ganga Expressway will start from Outer Ring Road of Meerut Junction SH78 and will end at Village Malwan Khurd (Dist. Prayagraj) on Jhansi-Sahson road.

The first phase of Ganga Expressway will cover 12 districts. These districts are Meerut, Jyotibha Phule Nagar, Hapur, Sambhal, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj.

There will be four lanes (expandable to six lane green field), right of way 110 metres with a design speed of 120 km/hr. There will be five major river bridges – River Ganga, River Ram Ganga, River Garra. There will be 8 road over bridges and 18 flyovers will be constructed.

The tentative project cost of phase one of Ganga Expressway: Civil works construction cost is projected at Rs 22,090.06 crore. There will be additional land acquisition cost of Rs 35,952 crore. The funding of the project will be done by a combination of debt (70 per cent) and equity (30 per cent).