PM launches ₹15,000-cr Bundelkhand expressway in UP

The Prime Minister has recently laid the foundation stone for the 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway involving an investment of ₹15,000 crore in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh. The commissioning of this project together with the UP Defence Corridor also in Bundelkhand area, the socioeconomic landscape of the entire region would be transformed It would also facilitate defence hardware exports globally and become a major Make in India hub in the near future. The two projects would be interlinked and the expressway would energize the Defence Corridor, for which the foundation stone was laid by the PM last year. In the recent DefExpo 2020 held in Lucknow, the state government had signed 23 MoUs with private companies committing investments of ₹50,000 crore in the Corridor. The big factories, which will come up in Bundelkhand, will further spur the MSME sector, benefit farmers, and generate job avenues for the local youth. The Expressway would link Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah districts. Last year, the state government had awarded the six packages of the Expressway to selected bidders, which included Apco Infratech, Ashoka Buildcon, Gawar Construction and Dilip Buildcon.