Purvanchal Expressway cost cut by 10 per cent

The Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority ( UPEIDA) has saved a sum of ` 600 crores in the project by breaking the cartel of construction companies. The technical and financial bid for the Purvanchal Expressway was opened on Monday at a 10 per cent lesser price. This was the third time that bids were opened for the Purvanchal Expressway.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay the foundation of the 340- km Purvanchal Expressway, connecting Lucknow to Ghazipur, at Azamgarh on July 14.

The previous Samajwadi Party government had allotted the tenders to the construction companies in early 2017 but it was cancelled after BJP came to power.

The Purvanchal Expressway, which has been divided into eight ‘ packages’ ( segments), will connect Lucknow, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur.

UPEIDA chairman Avanish Awasthi said, “The last time the bid was almost 10.97 per cent overpriced because the construction companies joined hands and worked as cartel. They identified their own packages and made bids accordingly. UPEIDA was able to break that cartel and the new bids are almost 10 less. This will save not less than ` 600 crore for the government”, he said.

This time against the estimated cost of ` 11,836.02 crores for eight packages, the total bid was for ` 11,216.10 crores. Except for the eighth package where the rise of the cost was 3.13 per cent, in remaining 7 packages it was in minus with highest of low by 12.76 per cent in the second package.