The intesely competitive politics in UP and the growth of expressways - an update
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Uttar Pradesh and its much-touted Expressways
- The story: Three successive governments in India's largest state - Uttar Pradesh - have focused on building expressways. The standard problems of delays, political one-upmanship and public protests have continued in parallel.
- The situation on date: UP’s expressway network today is 800 km long, the latest addition being the 341-km Purvanchal Expressway inaugurated in November 2021. Crisscrossing the state from Greater Noida in the west to Ghazipur near the Bihar border in the east, the network has been built at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore over the last 15 years. Another 900 km is in the pipeline, and can be longer if proposed extensions are added.
- What exactly is an expressway: It is a highway project that is “access controlled” for high-speed traffic. Entry and exit points are designated, and a combination of underpasses, bridges, interchanges gives high speed but hurdle-free movement.
- History: The first expressway was the Taj Expressway project (later "Yamuna Expressway"), which went through a series of regimes before it saw the light of day.
- Conceived in 2001 during the BJP regime under Rajnath Singh, it was planned and executed during 2007-12 BSP regime under Ms.Mayawati — who gave it the new name — and was finally inaugurated in 2012 by then CM Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party.
- This project saw more protests than any other, including a violent clash between protesting farmers and police in Bhatta Parsaul village of Gautam Buddh Nagar in 2011.
- Then CM Akhilesh Yadav went into the next two expressways. He inaugurated the Lucknow-Agra Expressway just before the 2017 Assembly polls, at a time when roadside amenities were yet to be developed; these were completed later. Later he laid the foundtion stone the Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway in a hurry although 90% of the land was yet to be acquired.
- Then the BJP government under Yogi Adityanath cancelled the previous bids and renamed the project Purvanchal Expressway, which his government completed and which Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated in Nov 2021. The present government is racing against time to complete the Bundelkhand Expressway before the 2022 elections are notified. This will have been conceived and constructed entirely during the current regime.
- Various problems and solutions:
- Direct land acquisition - Having faced prolonged protests from farmers during construction of the Yamuna Expressway, which was given to the company Jaypee Infratech, the government changed its policy and now buys land directly from farmers. The agreement for each plot is made individually between the farmer and the district administration, and the amount is transferred to the farmer’s account, leaving no scope for a unified protest.
- Pacakage construction - Because of their size, most of these projects were not feasible for private companies to undertake independently. The government has evolved a system of dividing these into six to eight packages, and issuing separate tenders for each.
- Statistics: With the completion of Purvanchal Expressway, Uttar Pradesh now contributes 28% of the expressway network of the country. Soon Bundelkhand and Gorakhpur Link Expressways will also be completed, and the state would have an over 1200-km-long expressway network. The first three of the expressways described below are already in operation. All three are of 6 lanes, expandable to 8 lanes.
- Yamuna Expressway - Greater Noida to Agra, 165 km - Inaugurated on August 9, 2012, by then CM Akhilesh Yadav - During the acquisition process, farmers felt compensation was not enough compared to the expected profits of the executing company, Jaypee Infratech, which was offered land parcels along the expressway. The protests culminated in the Bhatta Parsaul clash. Using its evolved rehabilitation policy, the BSP government was able to start work and complete the project just around the 2012 elections.
- Agra-Lucknow Expressway - Agra Inner Ring Road to Sarosa Bharosa (Lucknow), 302 km - Inaugurated on November 21, 2016, by Akhilesh Yadav - Proposed in 2013, the project initially found no takers among private players, as there was no land parcel along the way that could have compensated for the cost of construction. In 2014, the government decided to develop the project with its own funds by dividing it into five packages of 60 km each. The contracts went separately to PNC Infratech, Afcons Infrastructure (two packages), Nagarjuna Construction Company, and Larsen & Toubro. The Samajwadi Party government claimed to have completed the project in a record 22 months.
- Purvanchal Expressway - Lucknow to Ghazipur, 341 km - Inaugurated on November 16, 2021, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - The idea was initially conceived in 2016, and the foundation stone was laid by Akhilesh Yadav in December 2016. However, after the Yogi Adityanath-led government came to power in 2017, the earlier tenders were cancelled and fresh tenders were issued in eight different packages. The Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway was renamed, with some changes in its alignment. A stretch of it has been developed for landing of fighter planes, and the present government also plans to developing Industrial hubs along the expressway.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain the link between infrastructural development, GDP growth and per capita income growth. Is there a visible, direct link in India? Explain. (2) What are the spin off benefits from huge infra projects like Expressways? Explain. (3) What are the logistical costs related imperatives that need a developing nation like India to build a strong network of highways and expressways? Explain.
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