New Delhi, March 18 (NationPress) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has officially given the green light for the development of the 4-lane access-controlled National Highway 927 connecting Barabanki to Bahraich. This significant project covers a distance of 101.515 km in Uttar Pradesh and entails an investment of Rs 6969.04 crore under the hybrid annuity mode (HAM).

The enhancement of the Barabanki–Bahraich segment of NH-927 aims to rectify critical geometric flaws, including sharp curves and congestion in densely populated areas of both Barabanki and Bahraich districts. The newly designed access-controlled 4-lane highway will feature continuous service roads, effectively bypassing major settlements, which will lead to increased average travel speeds, a reduction in travel time to approximately one hour, and improvements in overall road safety, fuel efficiency, and vehicle operating costs. This development is poised to significantly bolster regional mobility and socio-economic progress, as noted in a Cabinet statement.

This initiative will ensure seamless access to essential economic, social, and logistics hubs throughout the state. Furthermore, the upgraded corridor will enhance multi-modal connectivity by linking three Economic Nodes, two Social Nodes, and twelve Logistics Nodes, thereby improving multimodal transport options with the Rupaidiha Land Port and nearby airports. This will facilitate expedited movement of goods and passengers within the region.

Upon its completion, this project will strategically create a crucial cross-border trade and transit route between India and Nepal via the Nepalganj border, greatly enhancing access to the Rupaidiha Land Port. It will also improve connectivity for remote districts such as Bahraich and Shravasti, support the PM GatiShakti economic and logistics nodes, and stimulate agricultural trade, tourism, cross-border commerce, and local investment.

The project has been approved using a hybrid annuity model (HAM), a public-private partnership (PPP) strategy for infrastructure projects, which integrates Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) (40% government-funded) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) (60% privately funded) components. This approach alleviates financial pressures on developers by providing stable, annuity-based, inflation-indexed returns, while the government continues to manage revenue risks.

This marks the second major highway initiative endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs this month, following the recent approval for the revised total capital cost of Rs 3630.77 crore on March 10 for the construction of greenfield connectivity to Jewar International Airport, linking Delhi-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh-Sohna Spur of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway via the hybrid annuity mode in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

This 31.42 km long corridor will provide direct and high-speed access from south Delhi, Faridabad, and Gurugram to Jewar International Airport, thereby fostering economic development and improving logistics efficiency across the National Capital Region (NCR).