Super State Highway will be Built in Uttar Pradesh

• 14 Jun 2023

Why in News?

On June 13, 2023, Uttar Pradesh PWD Minister Jitin Prasada said that Super State Highways (SSH) will be built in view of the increasing traffic in the state. For this, an MoU is set to be signed between UP PWD and NHAI soon.

Key Points:

• Minister Jitin Prasada said that at present there is a ban on giving National Highway Status to new roads. Therefore, it has been decided to develop SSH as per the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. For this, the consent of Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has also been received.
• These projects will be constructed with the help of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Looking at the traffic, their total width will be 4-6 lanes. The toll will also be charged on super state highways.
• A part of the income from this will be spent on the development of rural roads. That is, on the implementation of this scheme, adequate funds will also be available for rural roads. In the first phase, 1000-1500 km of state highways will be included in this scheme.
• PWD department heads have been instructed to identify state highways which can be given SSH status. In terms of traffic, these roads will be divided into two categories. One, where the PCU (passenger car unit) is between 20-30 thousand and two, where the PCU is more than 30 thousand.
• The state government will take up the responsibility of providing land as well as utility shifting and making roads encroachment-free. NHAI will arrange for the construction of these in HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) or EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) mode. In HAM mode, NHAI pays 40% of the total cost, while in EPC, the entire cost is paid by NHAI.
• After construction, this road will remain under NHAI for 25 years and after that, it will be handed over to the Uttar Pradesh government. NHAI will collect tolls for the first 25 years.
• According to the MoU, the amount that will be left after deducting the necessary service & financial charges will be deposited in the account of UP PWD. This amount will be used only for the development of rural roads in the state.
• It is worth mentioning that PWD has a 276042 km long road network in the state. These include 109.01 km of State Highways, 67.49 km of Major District Roads (MDRs), 542.44 km of Other District Roads (ODRs) and 204148 km of Rural Roads. With the implementation of the SSH system, the PWD will be able to arrange a substantial part of the required budget for more than 2 lakh km of rural roads from its own resources.