Uttar Pradesh has sanctioned a short, expensive piece of expressway, and the per-kilometre number is what fleet owners in Bundelkhand should read first. The state cabinet cleared the Chitrakoot Link Expressway at Rs 1,008.67 crore on Tuesday, 15 September. The road runs 15.172 km. That works out to roughly Rs 66 crore a kilometre for six lanes of greenfield, access-controlled carriageway, built on EPC terms with the state paying the entire bill.
The quick facts
- Rs 1,008.67 crore approved by the Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday, 15 September 2026.
- 15.172 km, six-lane, access-controlled greenfield alignment running from the start of the Bundelkhand Expressway to Chitrakoot Dham.
- Engineering, procurement and construction mode. A state-paid contract, not a concession, so there is no financial closure to wait through.
- Funded entirely by the state government, with no central share proposed. No building contractor has been named.
What Uttar Pradesh approved
The decision came out of the cabinet sitting of 15 September, one of more than twenty proposals cleared that day. Swarajya carried the cost, length and alignment in English. The Hindi desks at Amar Ujala and Navbharat carried the same figures the same evening, and Navbharat describes the item as a revised proposal rather than a first sanction. What none of them publish is the land-acquisition share, a construction timeline, or a district-wise alignment. Those gaps are real and we are not filling them with guesses.
What does Rs 66 crore a kilometre actually buy?
Set it against the two Uttar Pradesh link expressways this desk has already covered. The Jhansi Link Expressway was sanctioned at Rs 7,968 crore over 106 km, about Rs 75 crore a km. The Jewar link ran near Rs 115 crore a km over 74.46 km. Chitrakoot is the cheapest of the three per kilometre, and on a greenfield alignment that usually points one way: fewer long viaducts, fewer major crossings, and a bill weighted toward embankment and pavement rather than piers.
That shapes the fleet. An earthwork-led job of this size runs on 20-tonne class excavators, dozers and a tipper cycle hauling borrow to embankment, then a motor grader with soil and tandem compactors on the formation, then a paving train. Six lanes over 15 km is a single-package job: one contractor, one plant set, machines that mobilise and stay for the duration instead of shuttling between sites.
The dense bit is the tie-in. A link road joining an operating access-controlled expressway needs a grade-separated connection, which means piling rigs, cranes and concrete working beside live traffic on a possession calendar. Expect the structures money and the slow months to sit at that end of the alignment rather than spread evenly across the 15 km.
Our take: the EPC route is the part worth acting on. There is no concessionaire to select and no financial closure to clear, so the gap between tender and boots on the ground is shorter than on a HAM or BOT package of similar value. Hire rates across the Chitrakoot and Banda belt should firm once the contract is placed. Whether that lands this financial year depends on land, and land is the one input this approval does not describe.
What to watch
- The tender for the EPC package, and whether the 15 km goes out as one contract or is split into lots.
- Land acquisition notifications along the alignment. A greenfield road with no published land share can slip a full working season.
- The interchange design where the link meets the Bundelkhand Expressway, which sets the piling and crane requirement for the whole job.
Sizing a fleet for a Bundelkhand earthwork package? Compare excavator, grader and compactor models side by side on DesiMachines Compare before the tender drops, and check what the same spec costs to finance across lenders.
FAQ
When was the Chitrakoot Link Expressway approved?
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet cleared it on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, at a sanctioned cost of Rs 1,008.67 crore.
How long is the road and how many lanes will it have?
It is 15.172 km long and six lanes wide, access-controlled and greenfield, running from the start of the Bundelkhand Expressway to Chitrakoot Dham.
Has a contractor been appointed yet?
No. This is a sanction, not an award. The building agency is still to be selected, so treat it as a forward demand signal for Bundelkhand rather than confirmed work.
Related on DesiMachines: Jewar Link Expressway Approved: Rs 8,585 Crore for a 74.46 km Airport Link
Source: Swarajya
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