UP seeks fresh proposal from Jaypee on Ganga Expressway

The Rs 30,000 crore project was halted in May 2009 after HC order

The Uttar Pradesh government has solicited fresh proposal from concessionaire Jai Prakash Associates Limited on the Ganga Expressway Project (GEP) proposed during the previous Mayawati regime.

The work on the mega project, then estimated at Rs 30,000 crore, had halted on May 29, 2009, when the Allahabad High Court ordered the state to secure clearance from the central environment ministry before going ahead with the project.

In the state Assembly on Thursday, Congress legislator Akhilesh Pratap Singh sought to know the stand of the ruling Samajwadi Party government on the GEP. In his reply, zoo minister Shiv Pratap Yadav said the matter was sub-judice and the work on the project had stopped following the court order.

The minister further informed the House the government had last year written two letters on April 26 and November 9 to the concessionaire seeking fresh proposal.

As per the agreement, the concession period was 35 years, after which the expressway would revert to UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). The company could acquire 12,281 hectares as land parcel.

The alignment process by the Jaypee Group company was nearing completion, when the HC had order came.

The HC had ordered for halting the project on separate petitions filed by Vindh Environmental Society (VEM), Mirzapur and Hindu Mahasabha questioning the environmental feasibility of the project. The HC had quashed the earlier environmental clearance dated August 23, 2007 observing gaps in the preliminary clearance.

The 1, 047 km expressway between Greater Noida and Ballia was proposed via Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Badaun, Kanshi Ram Nagar, Farrukhabad, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Sant Ravi Das Nagar, Varanasi and Ghazipur districts.

The Mayawati government had said the project was necessary to give a fillip to trade and regional development, especially eastern UP. The expressway was proposed to be developed on the left side of Ganga and to reduce travel time considerably boosting trade.

UPEIDA was the lead government agency and the project was awarded to Jaypee after bidding in January 2008. GEP was divided into four parts and bids were invited for each part separately. JP, which bid for all the four parts, was awarded all the four contracts. The project based on Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) model was originally scheduled to be completed by 2012.