New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a concession agreement with GR Infraprojects for the development of the Agra-Gwalior Greenfield Expressway. The project, which will be executed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (Toll) model, involves the construction of an 88-km-long, 6-lane, access-controlled expressway between Deori village in Agra (Uttar Pradesh) and Susera village in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh).
The agreement has been signed in the presence of NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav and senior officials from both NHAI and the concessionaire. The expressway, designated as NH-719D, will be developed at a total capital cost of Rs 4,613 crore, inclusive of land acquisition costs. Construction is expected to be completed within 30 months, with a total concession period of 20 years.
To support the construction phase, NHAI will provide a viability gap funding of Rs 820 crore to the concessionaire, linked to project milestones. Notably, the project includes provisions for overlay, strengthening, and safety enhancements along the existing NH-44 corridor, which the new expressway is expected to complement.
The project has been awarded on a highly competitive quoted premium of 17.17 percent in the form of revenue share of the toll fees—far surpassing the expected premium of 2.42 percent. The premium payments will commence from the second year after project completion and will increase by 1 percent annually over the remaining concession period.
Traversing through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, the greenfield expressway is set to drastically reduce travel time and carbon emissions, while improving logistics efficiency for commercial and freight transport between Agra, Dholpur, Morena, and Gwalior. It is also expected to ease congestion on the existing Agra-Gwalior section of NH-44.
The expressway will feature major infrastructure components including eight major bridges, 23 minor bridges, six flyovers, one rail-over-bridge, and 192 culverts. Importantly, the alignment passes through the National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary. To safeguard the region’s biodiversity, a cable-stayed bridge over the Chambal River has been planned to protect the habitat of the endangered ‘Gharial’. Additional wildlife mitigation measures such as sound barriers and light cutters will be incorporated as part of the design.
This project is part of the Government of India’s broader push to attract private sector investment in highway infrastructure through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. Recently, NHAI also signed a similar BOT (Toll) agreement for the development of the 121-km Guwahati Ring Road.
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