UP to Raise Rs 12,000crore for the Longest Expressway

By Realty Quarter Bureau

As per the news reports, Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is looking to raise Rs 12,000 crore to fund the construction cost of the country’s longest expressway, the upcoming 341-km Poorvanchal Expressway from Lucknow to Ghazipur.

The state government has issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) document, stating its intention to raise Rs 12,000crore from domestic or international financial institutions, including equity funds, banks and alternative funding agencies, “in the form of loan/investment/other forms of infrastructure-funding” to UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) to part-finance the project.

The money will be “repayable over 12 years’ period after a moratorium during the construction period of three years (total period of 15 years) for civil construction work of the project”, reports said.
It is one of the most expensive expressways in the country, pegged at a total of Rs 23,349 crore with construction cost alone estimated at Rs 11,718 crore. The Uttar Pradesh government has already spent Rs 6,100 crore from its own funds to buy 91% of the land required for the expressway project.
The government said it is exploring private/institutional funding to assess market potential of big infrastructure projects, gauge market interest and seek inputs for project funding. A width of the median strip of the expressway was reduced from an initial proposal of 22.5 meters to 5.5 meters in consultation with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), which has led to an estimated saving of Rs 883 crore.