Work on the 165 km long Yamuna Expressway (formerly Taj Expressway) between Greater Noida and Agra in Uttar Pradesh is to begin within a fortnight as the process of land acquisition by Jaiprakash Associates is now complete. The new expressway will cut down travel time between Delhi and Agra by at least one hour.

The decision to build a new international airport at Jevar, half way between Agra and Greater Noida, will help accelerate economic development of the whole region and give a big boost to tourism, according to businessmen in Agra. The Yamuna Expressway Authority has given the green signal to develop industrial clusters at half a dozen places. The expressway passing through the districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura and Agra will come up on land belonging to 115 village panchayats.

A series of under-ways, fly-overs and over-bridges will ensure that motorists can drive at a speed of upto 120 kmph. According to information provided by the authority, there will be a limited number of road crossings, over 50 over-bridges or fly-overs, pedestrian crossings at over 60 points, at least two dozen locations for public conveniences and pay phone booths, puncture/automobile repair shops, and cold drinks kiosks. Lalit Srivastav, chairman of the authority, has told engineers that the expressway should not have any speed breakers.

The project promoters are keen that the Yamuna Expressway should be ready much before the coming Commonwealth Games in 2010. The Jaiprakash group has already secured the contract to build a 1,047-km-long expressway connecting Greater Noida to Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Mayawati government named all the three expressways- Ganga Expressway, Yamuna Expressway and Hindon Expressway- after rivers. The 250-km-long Hindon Expressway will pass through Ghaziabad and Saharanpur upto Dehradun in Uttarakhand. All the three Expressways will converge at Greater Noida.

Urban planners expect a lot of construction activity along the highways. The convenience of speedy communication is one major attraction as also the promise of a new infrastructural base and expanding civic amenities. “The old urban settlements have failed to meet the demands and expectations of a bourgeoning middle class which is comparatively better of today. People want to move out and live in better conditions. The townships that will come up along the Yamuna Expressway is bound to be the new hub of development as people would be free to move at a faster pace and live in much better conditions,” says Ravi Singh, a social activist.

It looks like the government agencies have lost all hopes of salvaging and restructuring old towns and the interiors of historical cities like Agra or Mathura. “They are just incapable of responding to drastic changes. The costs of laying a new pipeline or creating a new civic amenity will be phenomenal and would cause lot of physical displacement. It would therefore be better to concentrate on newer sites and create modern facilities. For instance only 17 to 20 percent people in Agra have sewer connections. The new townships that are coming up have their own treatment plants,” says land developer Sumit Gupta.

What is driving construction activity and who are the beneficiaries of the new boom in the property sector in Agra and neighbouring districts? A young architect and colonizer of Sanjay Place said “people want a better quality of life, they have more money and better means of transport and are positively inclined to move out from their traditional habitats.”

Agra and the half a dozen smaller towns around are witnessing a major construction boom. Thatched huts are being replaced by pucca structures. Multi-storeyed buildings are coming up and new townships being built along the highways.

“Although there is a slight downturn in the property market but the prices haven’t crashed,” says a property broker of Belanganj Mukesh.