UP pushes ₹36,000-cr Ganga Expressway project

Close on the heels of the PM laying the foundation stone for the 296-km Bundelkhand Expressway in the state, the UP government has fast tracked the 628-km long Ganga Expressway project. The ₹36,000 crore mega road project will link 12 districts between Prayagraj (Allahabad) and Meerut districts crisscrossing Amroha, Bulandshahar, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Unnao, Rae Bareli and Pratagarh. State chief secretary R K Tiwari has directed UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) to prepare the DPR by March 20, so that it is sent to the Union Cabinet for approval. The expressway would entail acquisition of about 6,556 hectares of land as it would be a six lane (expandable to eight lanes) and will have the width of 130 metres, apart from a service road of 3.75 metres. In a related development, the state government is also throwing open the main carriageway of under-construction Purvanchal Expressway for light vehicles by December 2020, while the remaining work would continue till its completion as per the given timelines. The 340-km Purvanchal Expressway was divided into eight packages and awarded to different companies for ensuring time-bound completion. It runs across nine districts viz. Lucknow, Barabanki, Faizabad, Ambedkarnagar, Amethi, Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur, said an official spokesperson.