Paving the way for construction of Purvanchal Expressway, the state government approved RFP (Request for Proposal) for construction of this Greenfield expressway besides set up a high -level committee headed by Chief Secretary to look for finances from banks. The approval was given at a cabinet meeting held in lucknow on Tuesday.
A government spokesman said that construction of the Expressway in eight packages will connect lucknow with Ghazipur and will be completed within 30 months.
“After RFP, the financial and technical bids will be opened. The high point of the Expressway is that it would connect four major religious cities. Varanasi will be connected through National Highway 33, while Allahabad, Ayodhya and Gorakhpur will be connected through link roads,” the spokesman said.
The state government has made it clear that this Expressway will be constructed from loans taken from banks. “A high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary will look at options to garner financial support from banks includiong Asian Development Bank (ADB),” he said.
Initially, the Allahabad Bank had proposed a loan of Rs 2000 crore while other nationalized banks had assured additional loans of over Rs 15,000 crore.
The proposed Expressway has faced many hiccups. Initially the Centre had approved the UP government’s proposal to finance the project but NITI Ayog spiked the proposal asking the state to generate its own resources. later, the state government roped in many nationalized banks who agreed to finance the project.
He said that so far over 91per cent of land has been acquired and by the time the RFP was approved government will acquire over 95 per cent of the proposed land.
Another high point of the Expressway is that it will have 3000-meter long airstrip at Kudebhar in Sultanpur, which can be used by fighter planes of Indian Air Force during emergency.
Initially, the cost of the project was Rs 19437.73 crore of which Rs 12070 crore is for civil work. But the cost has been revised follwoing directives from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to slash unnecessary cost after which the cost has come down to Rs 13349.51 crore.
In another decision, the government decided to set up a high-tech labour complex in BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur which will have special ICU for neo-natal and highly equipped NICU.
“As Gorakhpur is the centre of communicable disease a Regional Research Centre would be set up at BRD college for which the government will provide land free of cost,” hee said.
The cabinet also approved amendment in Appointments in Food and Horticulture department where promotion would be made through DPC.
“At least 50 per cent of the promotions will be carried out through DPC system,” he said.
In another decision, the state government decided to approve financial guarantee of Rs 60 crore for Moinuddin Sugar Mills.
“The government also increased financial limit of e-tendering from existing 5 lakh to 10 lakh. The tenders over this amount will be need e-tendering approval,” the spokesman said.
The government has also asked District Magistrates to purchase sacks for storing wheat and authorized them to revise rates for storages in warehouses.