JP bags Rs 30,000 crore UP expressway project

Delhi-based Jaiprakash (JP) Associates bagged the controversial Rs 30,000 crore Ganga expressway project, to be built from Greater Noida to Balia. The total length of the expressway will be 1,000 km and will be completed in four years. UP CM Mayawati will lay the foundation stone for the project on Monday.

A senior official of a company which had bid for the project said that JP bid was very aggressive as they quoted around 50% lower than Reliance Energy, the second lowest bidder. The entire stretch is devided into four sectors - Greater Noida to Fatehgarh of 253 Km, Fatehgarh to Dalmau (305 km), Dalmau to Aurai of 211 (km) and Aurai to Balia 278 (km).

JP was not the lowest bidder in all the sectors separately. But, it also had submitted a combined bid at Rs 293 crore for all the four sectors, which turned out to be the lowest and enabled it to win the contract. Reliance Energy also had submitted the combined bid at Rs 590 crore, which was the second lowest.

According to a source, while in the first sector between Greter Noida and Fatehgarh, JP was the lowest bidder at Rs 63 crore, Unitech was the second lowest at Rs 304 crore. Reliance Energy had bid for Rs 306 crore the same sector. But, for the second sector betweed Fatehgarh and Dalmau, Zoom developer was the lowest bidder at Rs 24 crore. JP had bid the same sector for Rs 70 crore.

But, JP had also submitted a combined bid for Rs 293 crore, which was lower than its sector-wise bid, which totalled at Rs 410 crore.

The government has earmarked around 63,110 hectare land for the project. But, because of the aggressive bidding, the source said that the project could be implemented for 10% of the land earmarked for the purpose.

Most of the political parties including Samajwadi Party, BJP, Congress and political organization like Jan Morcha led by former PM Vishwanath Pratap Singh are opposing the project as it will lead to acquisition of the fertile land along the river Ganga.

News Source : Samachar