Uttar Pradesh (UP) CM Yogi Adityanath led state cabinet has approved the 594-km Meerut to Prayagraj controlled-access Ganga Expressway.
The cabinet had approved RFP (request for proposal), and RFQ (request for quotation) documents for the project to be implemented on a develop, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis under the Public-Private Partnership model.
The greenfield six-lane expressway project, which will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 36,230 crore connects Meerut in west UP to Prayagraj in the eastern part of the state, reports Hindustan Times.
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, Rai Bareli, Pratapgarh, and Prayagraj.
Recently, the UP government received the sanction letter of Rs 5,100 crore loan for the Ganga Expressway project from the Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The state government will use this amount for the Ganga Expressway, which will connect Meerut in west UP to Prayagraj in the eastern part of the state.
The Rs 5,100 crore loan, under the securitisation process, will be repaid to the bank within 15 years from the toll to be received on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. During this period of loan repayment, the expressway would continue to be owned and operated by UPEIDA.
According to the UP government, this is the first innovative attempt to monetise public infrastructure assets in the state and the whole of northern India.
The Ganga Expressway will be owned and operated during the loan period by Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).