Stalled FNG expressway project resumes

The union minister VK Singh recently asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to take over the remaining work on the 43-kilometer long Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad (FNG) expressway project, which had been stalled for years. The lack of coordination and land disputes that plagued the stretch caused the project to drag on for more than 30 years. Under the 23 kilometers of the Noida Authority portion, a 11-kilometer section has been completed. The six-lane expressway will connect Delhi, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Meerut, and Ghaziabad in a crucial way. In 2018, the NHAI was asked to take over the project, but it turned it down. According to officials, the Noida authority has decided to construct three crucial stretches of the expressway, including two elevated stretches, for the benefit of commuters now that work has resumed. Officials say that an elevated road above the Hindon embankment road and a 659-meter-long elevated road above Chhijarsi will be built. The Authority will also construct an underpass on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway so that the FNG expressway can pass through it. This will mark the end of work on the FNG expressway in Noida. The dispute between the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana over the financial burden of a 600-meter-long bridge over the Yamuna near Chauprauli village in Noida that connects to Faridabad on the other side was a major obstacle in the competition for the FNG expressway. The bridge's cost will now be shared by both governments. The FNG expressway, when it is finished, will connect Sector 168 in Noida to NH2 in Faridabad and NH9 in Ghaziabad, near Chhajarsi. The distance between the two locations would be reduced to 25 minutes. At the moment, it takes longer than an hour.