APCO Infratech Emerges As Lowest Bidder For Construction Of 30 Km Link Road Connecting Jewar Airport With Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

APCO Infratech, a construction firm based in Lucknow, has emerged as the lowest bidder for constructing the 30-km long access-controlled road to connect the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway with the international airport currently under construction in Uttar Pradesh's Jewar.

The road will link the expressway to the airport via the DND flyway in Noida and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway in the National Capital Region.

National Highways Authority of India opened the bids for the project on 29 July. It had invited tenders in January this year through the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) with a Rs. 1533.34 crore estimate.

The Rs 1,660.50 crore bid by APCO Infratech was the lowest among the 12 bids submitted for the construction of the six-lane spur.

Apart from APCO, Ashoka Buildcon Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd, CDS Infra Projects Ltd, Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd, Gawar Construction Ltd, G R Infraprojects Ltd, HG Infra Engineering Ltd, KCC Buildcon Private Ltd, Montecarlo Ltd, Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt. Ltd and PNC Infratech Ltd have submitted bids for the project.

The road will link the airport with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Ballabgarh in Haryana. It will also connect the airport to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway via an interchange being constructed near the airport where the Yamuna Expressway crosses the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. This interchange will enable people from Kundli, Panipat and Meerut to access the airport through the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which further connects to the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.

Once started, the project is expected to be completed in two years. As it is being built under HAM, 40 per cent of the cost will be borne by the NHAI and 60 per cent will be borne by the builder.

There is also a plan to connect the Jewar airport through a greenfield metro line that will be extended from Greater Noida to the airport. The proposed high-speed rail corridor between Delhi and Varanasi will have a station at the airport and offer a 21-minute ride from the national capital to the airport.

Tata Projects Limited, the infrastructure and construction arm of the Tata group, is currently constructing the Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, on EPC mode (engineering, procurement, and construction).