Purvanchal e-way: Year ago, Government had cancelled tenders awarded to six firms

The Purvanchal Expressway is one of present regime’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, which it plans to promote before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Another proposed project — the Bundelkhand Expressway — is in a preliminary stage. The Purvanchal Expressway, which has has been divided into eight “packages” (segments), will connect Lucknow, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Amethi, Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. In Lucknow, it will start from Chand Sarai area near NH-56. Its estimated cost is around Rs 23,000 crore.

The lowest bidders for each of these eight packages are: M/S NCC ltd for package 1, Apco Infratech Ltd for package 2, Larsen and Toubro Ltd for packages 3 and 5, PNC Infratech Ltd for package 4, Gayatri Projects Ltd for package 6, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd for package 7 and Reliance Infrastructure Ltd for package 8. During the previous SP regime, six firms had been selected for the eight packages, including NCC Ltd, PNC Ltd, Gayatri Construction, Afcons and Larsen and Toubro. One of the reasons the state government had cancelled the previous tenders was that they were allegedly floated without purchase of at least 90 per cent of the required land.

“The bids will first be evaluated by the Bid Evaluation Committee and then be cleared by the Cabinet. Agreements will be signed with each of the selected companies, technical clearances will be given and then work will start on ground,” said Avaneesh Awasthi, principal secretary (information) and also chief executive officer of Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority. The government had earlier planned to get the foundation stone of the project laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency represented by SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, sources said that as of now, while no final decision had been made about the place or timing of the foundation ceremony, the government plans to hold it close to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and project it as one of its achievements.

The timing of the project is crucial for the present government. Unlike the Bundelkhand Expressway, for which the government is yet to even finalise the alignment, 92 per cent of the land required for the Purvanchal Expressway has already been purchased.