UP fast-tracks ₹37,000-cr expressway projects

The UP government has hastened construction work on the twin highways entailing an investment of ₹37,000 crore and has already speeded up acquisition of 8,000 hectares of land for the 353-km Purvanchal Expressway and for the 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway. The Purvanchal Expressway, which is under construction, will cost ₹23,000 crore and is projected to be completed by mid-2020. Competitive bidding for the Bundelkhand Expressway, which will cost ₹14,000 crore, is currently under process. More than 96 percent of the 4,332 hectares land needed for the Purvanchal Expressway has been acquired, according to UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), the nodal agency for the two projects. As much as 60 percent of the 3,642 hectares of land needed for the Bundelkhand Expressway has also been acquired. It will connect the backward region of Bundelkhand, which comprises cities like Jhansi and Banda, with mainland Uttar Pradesh and the NCR via other highways like the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the Agra-Greater Noida Yamuna Expressway. The Purvanchal Expressway will pass through nine districts: Lucknow, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Mau, and Ghazipur.