16.2.10

Upper Ganga Canal expressway snippets


Drawing lessons from its repeated failures to attract private investment in big-ticket projects, the Uttar Pradesh government has drawn up a plan for a Rs 6,200-crore expressway which envisages assured land rights. Land rights are property rights that pertain to real estate land.
The project with a concession period of 35 years eyes attractive traffic figures,which are expected to rise as it will provide the shortest possible route for travelling from the national capital to Uttarakhand. Also, the project envisages seven hydropower plants, which the developer can build or lease out, said a state government official.
Assured about the viability of the project, the UP government has decided to ask builders to pay back the state from its revenue stream."The state government will give first preference to bids offering negative grant," said an official,adding the government hopes to hand over the letter of authority (LOA) for the project to the developer. The Upper Ganga Canal Expressway will start from Sanauta Bridge in Greater Noida and end at Purkazi, on the Uttarakhand border. The Greater Noida Authority has been roped in to connect the incoming traffic from the Yamuna Expressway to this expressway and also the Delhi traffic from Parichowk, in Greater Noida to the UGC Expressway through link roads.With this, traffic from Agra can have direct access till Haridwar and the Delhi traffic, too, can have an express corridor to ease its burgeoning traffic.
Most private players such as Jaypee Infratech, IRB Builders, Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Realty and Infrastructure, GVK, Punj Lloyd, Lanco Infratech, Nagarjuna and many others have shown a keen interest in the project. The companies agree that the project has a high degree of possibility of breaking even in the first couple of years or so.
The 150-km long, 8-laned access controlled expressway will incorporate 571 hectare land for right of way (ROW) for the route in addition to another 100 hectare for land parcels free of cost.
As per initial estimates, the seven hydroprojects, having a total capacity of 31.75 mw, would require Rs 336 crore for construction and maintenance and have potential to generate a recurring revenue of Rs 180 crore annually for the entire 35 years of the concession period.
This recurring revenue generation, in addition to the toll collection from seven toll plazas across the expressway , would make the project viable in the first few years itself,feel experts.The power generated from these projects would not only help the developer to supply power to the townships that would be developed on the adjoining land parcels, but it could also sell the excess power in the open market and earn huge profit. The developer will also have rights on the land parcels for 90 years and would be able to sublease the land for development.
While this will result in a better toll income and will be an additional incentive for the developer, he will also fetch good real estate value for the land parcels, which will have the potential to attract hi-tech development,especially in and around the NCR. With the government open to granting the floor area ratio (FAR) of 2.5, the rate of enhancement of property prices for the developer will also be high.

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