| Header Type: | proposed |
| Country: | IND |
| Atal Progress-Way | |
| Alternate Name: | Chambal Expressway |
| Length Km: | 404 |
| Direction A: | West |
| Direction B: | East |
| Terminus A: | Seemalya, Kota district, Rajasthan |
| Terminus B: | Nanawa, Etawah district, Uttar Pradesh |
| Formed: | 2027 (expected)[1] |
| States: | Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh |
| Maint: | National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) |
Atal Progress-Way, also known as Chambal Expressway, is an approved long, six-lane access-controlled greenfield expressway, which will connect the city of Kota in Rajasthan with the city of Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, through the famous city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. It will pass through three states–Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The expressway is a part of Bharatmala Pariyojana.[2] [3] The government's aim is to develop the economically backward regions of Chambal division and Gwalior division of Madhya Pradesh through the expressway.[4] The expressway will reduce both travel time and distance, from 10-11 hours at present, to only 6-7 hours, and from to . It will be built at a cost of approximately ₹ 23,700 crore, which was earlier slated at ₹ 20,000 crore.[5] The expressway has been named as Atal Progress-Way after the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and also because he was born in Gwalior, nearby which the expressway will pass.[6]
To improve connectivity, tourism, development and economic growth in the economically backward regions of south-eastern Rajasthan and northern Madhya Pradesh, the Government of Madhya Pradesh planned to build an expressway from Kota to Etawah, in 2017.[7] The expressway will reduce both travel time and distance, from to, and from 10-11 hours to only 6-7 hours.[8] Once completed, these regions will see exponential growth with the growth of industries and socio-economic development by promoting employment among people living in the regions, which the regions currently lack altogether. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, laid the foundation stone for the project, in September 2020.[9] The Government of India included the expressway in Bharatmala Pariyojana's Phase-I in August 2021.[10] The Cabinet of Madhya Pradesh approved the project in October 2021.[11] In June 2022, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) applied for environmental clearance for the project, as it will pass through a small section of the Kuno National Park. The land acquisition for the project also began in the same month. In December 2022, the NHAI issued tender notices for the project's construction. The project will be built at a cost of ₹ 23,645 crore, which was earlier slated at ₹ 20,000 crore, and is expected to be completed by 2027.[12]
|-|RJ|44.739miles|-|MP|194.992miles|-|UP|14.267miles|-|Total|253.998miles|}
The expressway will run alongside the route of the Chambal River.[13] It will run through the following states and their regions:
See also: List of districts of Rajasthan. The western end of the expressway will be located at Seemalya village in Kota district, and will start with an interchange to the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway. The expressway will cover a distance of within Rajasthan.[3]
See also: List of districts of Madhya Pradesh. The expressway will cover the following districts along with their cities:
It will cover a total distance of within Madhya Pradesh.[3] To link Gwalior, an interchange will be built at Morena along the Agra–Gwalior Expressway.
See also: List of districts of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern end of the expressway will be located at Nanawa village in Etawah district, from where a spur will be built to connect the expressway with Agra–Lucknow Expressway. It will cover a total distance of within Uttar Pradesh.
The expressway will be fully four-lane, access-controlled and a greenfield project, with a provision of expanding it into six lanes at a future date, by leaving a space in between it, with a width of 100 metres in the Madhya Pradesh section, and 60 metres in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh sections. The land acquisition of the project after the environmental clearance began in June 2022, and the bidding process for the project's construction was started by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in December 2022. The expressway will be built using the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) mode of construction. Currently, the project is under bidding, land acquisition and Detailed Project Report (DPR) preparation, which is being prepared by the Bhopal-based firm, after forming a joint venture with another firm, L.N. Malviya Infra Projects – Pioneer Infra Consultants JV. The project has been divided into six packages, while the package division for the Uttar Pradesh section is still underway. The following table lists the packages, contractors and their statuses.[14]
| Packages | Chainages | Contractor | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package-1 | TBD | TBD | Bidding process underway | |
| Package-2 | TBD | TBD | Bidding process underway |
| Packages | Chainages | Contractor | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package-1 | Sada ka Pada village to Chhavar village (94.100 km to 155.000 km), Sheopur district | TBA | Bidding process and land acquisition underway | |
| Package-2 | Chhavar to Jhundpura (Morena district) (155.400 km to 206.000 km) | TBA | Bidding process and land acquisition underway | |
| Package-3 | Jhundpura to Maithana village (206.000 km 265.000 km), Morena district | TBA | Bidding process and land acquisition underway | |
| Package-4 | Maithana village to Kuretha village (265.000 km 312.950 km), Morena district | TBA | Bidding process and land acquisition underway |
The remaining stretch till Etawah is under package division and bidding process.
The expressway will benefit Central India as well as Eastern India as follows:[15]
In July 2022, in a meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the EAC raised concerns on the alignment of the expressway's Sheopur and Morena districts, due to the high presence of the well- known rugged eroded topography, the ravines of the Chambal region, or also known as the 'bad lands'. The construction in these parts will cause the soil to get further eroded, thus exposing the parent rock, which may result in a harm to the surrounding environment and other unaffected areas by drought, and the permanent stoppage of any agricultural activities on the entire region. If these changes occur, it would be irreversible to change back to the land what it was before and the efforts taken to turn ravines into normal, plain land. So the Ministry advised the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to change the alignment of the expressway. In view of this, the NHAI changed the route by taking a new land survey, as far from the ravines as possible, and to ensure as much as impacts to be created on the socio-economic development of the entire Chambal region after the expressway's completion.[16]