YEIDA meets NHAI regarding land for EPE

GREATER NOIDA: Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) maintained its stand of not providing National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) with free land for an interchange for the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE).

YEIDA

, however, agreed to give the 20 hectares of land required by NHAI for constructing an interchange where the 165-km Yamuna Expressway meets the

EPE

. The Authority was willing to pay it the land acquisition cost of about Rs 40 crore. This was informed to NHAI at a meeting called by the Union ministry of urban development on Monday.

According to officials, talks between YEIDA and the NHAI monitoring committee for the 20 hectares of land required for the EPE in the YEIDA area failed to reach a conclusion. “A meeting will be held in Lucknow next week with the Uttar Pradesh government to decide on the issue,” Arunvir Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), YEIDA told TOI. “The said land falls in the Jaganpur-Afzalpur area of YEIDA,” he explained.

YEIDA officials further said that it was not possible to agree to the terms of NHAI as they had acquired the land from farmers and had to pay them an additional compensation of 64.7%. Giving the land free to NHAI would not be a viable proposition for YEIDA, officials said.

In August 2015 too, talks had failed to reach a conclusion when NHAI had demanded that the YEIDA land—about 72 hectares at the time—which was estimated to cost about Rs 161 crore be given free of cost for the EPE. The NHAI had also wanted that YEIDA should bear the cost of the construction of the EPE falling in the YEIDA area. A 13-km stretch of the EPE falls in the GB Nagar area.

The EPE project, which is about 62% complete, is envisaged to provide a smooth ride between the cities of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Sonipat, Faridabad and Palwal, as well as to de-congest Delhi roads. Once completed by August 2017, it is likely to take at least 70,000-80,000 vehicles off Delhi roads. The NHAI needed land from 39 villages in GB Nagar for the expressway, which was proposed in 2005. It is also likely to benefit UP and Haryana as it would open up hinterlands for developing commercial areas and townships along the expressway.

In Greater Noida, the EPE will connect near the Yamuna Expressway and near the integrated township of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor while on NH-91 (Grand Trunk road) it will connect near Beel Akbarpur. Noida, Greater Noida, Dadri, GT Road, Ghaziabad, Dholana, Hapur will be decongested once the e-way is in place. Expected vehicular movement on the e-way is about one lakh per day by 2021.