Rs 20k cr worth of projects in the fray

State’s poor roads often cited as major hurdle in the path to industrialisation

Even as the Akhilesh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government is nearing its first anniversary in power, projects worth about Rs 20,000 crore in road infrastructure are either underway or in the pipeline in the state.

The projects pertain to both state highways and road projects of the UP State Highways Authority (UPSHA).

While four highway upgradation projects spanning 462 km, worth Rs 3,868 crore, are underway, 17 road projects spanning 1,800 km and worth Rs 16,000 crore proposed by UPSHA are in different stages, including bidding or feasibility.

Poor roads and power infrastructure have often been cited as a major hurdle in the path of UP’s rapid industrial development.

The state highway upgradation projects include the Delhi-Saharanpur-Yamunori Road (Rs 1,718 crore), Bareilly-Almora Road (Rs 354 crore), Varanasi-Shaktinagar Road (Rs 1,212 crore) and Meerut-Karnal Road (Rs 583 crore).

In the recently-held CII Agra Summit, UP had highlighted these projects to attract investors and industrialists with the promise of continually improving infrastructure.

Besides, UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has proposed an access controlled expressway between Agra and Lucknow spanning 270 km. It would provide seamless connectivity from Lucknow to the National Capital Region (NCR) via the operational Yamuna Expressway between Agra and Greater Noida.

The bidding document for the mega project is likely to be floated by the middle of this calendar.

UP has one of the largest road networks in India measuring 1,33,122 km, which includes national/state highways, district and rural roads. Of this, 5,570 km and 8,551 km pertain to national and state highways respectively. It also the largest railway network in the country spanning over 8,763 km.

In its latest industrial development policy, the government has announced stamp duty concessions and schemes pertaining to investment promotion, infrastructure interest subsidy, capital interest subsidy, industrial quality development subsidy and special sops for mega projects.