Mathura district magistrate Alok Tiwari has however has told the local media that no final date has as yet been fixed for the formal inauguration of the Expressway. UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is right now on a tour of Australia with his family. Only when he returns can the final date be fixed, said an official.

The project ready in December last year, has been dragging feet and mired in controversies due to change in government in Lucknow. After several rounds of meetings in Lucknow and Noida between officials of the state government and the promoters JP group, the speed limit and the toll rates have now been agreed upon. A source said Rs.346 will be charged as toll tax from four wheelers at the three toll plazas, for a distance of 165 kilometres.

It is the political rivalry between the Bahujan Samaj Party and the ruling Samajwadi Party that has also been a cause for the delay in the opening of the Expressway.

The state government wants concessions for its luxury buses that would be plying between the Taj city and Noida. Another contentious issue is the rate for the trucks.

The controversial Expressway that runs through the districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahar, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura and Agra, along the Yamuna river, has been developed on land acquired from farmers of around 1200 villages. It has taken almost 11 years and a whole lot controversies and disputes which continue to hassle the promoters whose dream of developing townships on five land parcels along the six-lane ultra- modern highway monitored by 150 cameras round the clock, could still be distant.