The date for the construction of the 121 km long six-lane Greenfield Express between Gwalior and Agra has been extended 19 times in 11 months. But the tender for the expressway has not been done. Due to this, the construction of the expressway is getting delayed and construction is not being done.
The entire year will be spent in the tender process of the proposed Gwalior-Agra Six Lane Greenfield Expressway to reach from Gwalior to Agra in one hour, Delhi in two and a half hours and Uttarakhand in five and a half hours.
On January 5, 2024, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had issued a tender for the construction of 88.400 km long six-lane Greenfield Expressway and repair of the existing 121 km long four-lane highway at a cost of Rs 3841 crore. Earlier, the date of tender kept getting extended with the approval of the Union Cabinet. After this the matter got entangled in land acquisition.
This is the reason why the tender opening date has been amended 19 times in the last 11 months, while 17 amendments have been made to remove technical flaws. Now NHAI has fixed December 3 as the date for opening the tender, but the tender can be opened only after 90 percent land acquisition is completed. In such a situation, work is likely to start on site only in the second half of next year.
After the start of the work, within 30 months the company will have to construct the Greenfield Expressway along with repairing the existing highway. According to NHAI officials, the process of land acquisition is going on and compensation is being determined.
Land acquisition to take place in three states
- Land is to be acquired in more than 100 villages of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for the Greenfield Expressway. It includes the borders of Agra in Uttar Pradesh, Dholpur in Rajasthan and Morena and Gwalior districts of Madhya Pradesh. In Gwalior, land is to be acquired only in Susera village.
- NHAI had issued a notification for land acquisition and a condition was set to open the tender only if 90 percent of the land is acquired, so that the work can be started soon after signing the contract with the company. Now this too has been changed. Once the compensation amount is determined, tenders will be opened.
Earlier we had planned to open the tender for Greenfield Expressway only after 90 percent land acquisition, but now it has been changed. Once the compensation amount for land acquisition is determined, tenders will be opened. This process is also being expedited.
Umakant Meena, Project Director NHAI
