Just three weeks after opening to the public, a 300-meter section of the 63-kilometer Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway caved in, rendering travel hazardous on the newly built corridor. Constructed at a total cost of 4,700 crore rupees with over 4,000 crore spent during four years of construction, the project was intended to streamline movement between the two major Uttar Pradesh cities following its July launch. Responding to the structural fault, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) promptly halted toll collection. The failure has drawn renewed focus to the contractor, Agra-based PNC Infratech Limited, which carries a history of project cave-ins, bribery charges investigated by the CBI, and hefty court fines for illegal mining.
Corporate History and Diverse Infrastructure Portfolio
Founded by Pradeep Kumar Jain in 1989, PNC Infratech began its commercial operations with NHAI 27 years ago in 1999 under its former name, PNC Construction Company. It was renamed PNC Infra Limited in August 2007. Over the years, the firm expanded beyond highways to encompass flyovers, bridges, airport runways, power transmission lines, rural water supply systems, irrigation infrastructure, industrial park development, and rail freight corridors. In 2005, PNC built the runway at Kolkata airport, and it has completed over 350 kilometers of power transmission lines across Uttar Pradesh.
History of Structural Failures and Legal Controversies
The recent damage on the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway marks another entry in a series of structural issues linked to the firm's projects. A 56-kilometer stretch on the Agra-Firozabad Road, which forms part of the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, suffered major collapse months after opening. Similarly, the 33-kilometer New Southern Bypass around Agra, built six years ago at a cost of roughly 450 crore rupees, collapsed from both ends shortly after completion, creating a 30-to-50-foot wide crater.
Alongside construction defects, PNC Infratech has faced regulatory and criminal actions. In 2024, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against company directors and employees over alleged bribery of NHAI officials regarding the Jhansi-Khajuraho Highway project. During the construction of the same highway, a Chhatarpur court penalised the company nearly 104 crore rupees for illegal mining after finding it had extracted more than 2.45 crore square meters of soil and morang without authorization.
Work on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Performance Bonuses
Despite controversies, PNC Infratech has consistently bagged major national infrastructure packages. On the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the firm constructed Package-29 (22.5 km for approximately 781 crore rupees) and Package-31 (19.4 km for 789.4 crore rupees) in the Vadodara region within two-year deadlines. In 2025, NHAI awarded the company a 56.3 crore rupee bonus for early completion of its segment on the Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway.
Ongoing and Recent Highway Projects Across India
NHAI has continued awarding contracts to the firm across multiple states. In Uttar Pradesh, PNC won the 1,608 crore rupee contract for the 80-kilometer Gorakhpur-Sonauli link road with a 24-month deadline. The company also completed the 60-kilometer four-laning of the Jagdishpur-Faizabad section in 2023 for 1,051 crore rupees, alongside the 60-kilometer Aligarh-Kanpur Package-5 project built at 1,621 crore rupees. In Karnataka, subsidiary Akkalkot Highway is currently constructing a 71-kilometer Greenfield Expressway section valued at 1,769.02 crore rupees, while PNC completed the 55-kilometer Challakere to Hiriyur stretch at a cost of 910 crore rupees.
