Noida gets 5,000 crore for infra development

Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities tabled their annual budget — a total of Rs 17,000 crore for the financial year 2011-12. Mohinder Singh, chairperson of the three authorities, earmarked Rs 4,997.65 crore as the budgetary allocation for the Noida authority. With an aim to develop Noida as a major infrastructural hub, on a par with all the major cities in the country, the authority announced its decision to allocate almost 40% of the total amount for various development projects. The authority will spend about Rs 2,000 crore on projects like construction of elevated roads, flyovers and five underpasses at all major traffic bottlenecks in Noida as well as on the construction of major link roads between Noida and Delhi. The sum will also be used for providing basic services like healthcare, transport and water supply. Beginning next month, the authority will begin work on two major road corridors proposed under the Master Plan 2031 for Noida — a 45km corridor from Kalindi Kunj through sector 37 to Jevar airport in Greater Noida and another 30km link that will connect Hapur in Ghaziabad to Greater Noida. This will help in easing traffic congestion on NH24. The Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities have come up with a joint roadmap for these corridors. Work on the four bridges over Yamuna proposed last year and on the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor will begin soon. The authority has fixed a deadline of three years for the completion of these projects. The focus is also on creation and upgrade of services such as a bus rapid transit system (BRTS), Metro rail, water, electricity, drainage and solid waste management. Other focus areas of the CEO’s budget speech included the proposed Greater Noida Metro project, the need to expand the Ganga water scheme and the development of the 41 villages in Noida. In addition, the authority in its board meeting also approved the plan to extend the Delhi Metro line from Kalindi Kunj to Botanical Garden. A 3.76-km-long Metro line will be constructed at a cost of Rs 786 crore, which will be borne by the Noida authority.