Yamuna disquiet may spur rethink on expressway-realty funding model

The fate of India’s ambitious plan to build more than 18,000km of greenfield expressways will depend on how the agitation in Uttar Pradesh over the Yamuna Expressway connecting New Delhi with Agra settles.

“We are observing the developments in UP. We have to assess whether the model of clubbing real estate with expressway development is feasible going forward, or whether we need other funding options,” a surface transport ministry official told DNA.

If there is a stalemate on Yamuna, the Union road transport and highways ministry may consider reviewing the real estate-linked funding model, sources said.

The ministry, however, has not issued any official circular pertaining to the matter as of now.

The framework of the Centre’s 18,637km expressway network plan is similar to the funding model of Jaypee Infratech’s Rs10,000 crore Greater Noida to Agra Expressway project.

Under this Uttar Pradesh government venture, Jaypee bagged the rights to develop five townships along the corridor of the expressway, by constructing and selling which, the company is expected to finance the expressway. Jaypee has already tied up debt worth Rs6,000 crore for the project and construction of the expressway is in the last stage.

Earlier, the surface transport ministry under Kamal Nath had asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to make provisions for integrated commercial, industrial and housing development on the alignments of the greenfield expressways.

NHAI has already prepared a draft cabinet note on the issue and is currently in the process of getting feedback from stakeholders.
Meantime, in Tappal in Aligarh, a township on the Jaypee’s expressway, protests for compensation equivalent to what the farmers in Greater Noida region got for giving up their land began last month.

Within a fortnight, the Uttar Pradesh government cancelled the township project in Tappal. By then, the contentious land acquisition issue had already acquired political dimensions.