Purvanchal Expressway Not the Last Gift to UP This Election Season, Many More in the Offing
The Purvanchal Expressway will not be the last gift to Uttar Pradesh this election season from the BJP government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi could lay the foundation stone of two more major infrastructure projects and inaugurate at least three key projects next month, News18 has learnt.
PM Modi will first be in Greater Noida on November 25 to lay the foundation stone of the mega Noida International Airport project and hold a public rally.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath at the launch function of the Purvanchal Expressway on Tuesday said the work on the 594-km long Ganga Expressway from Meerut to Prayagraj to connect East UP to West UP will “start in a few days” and the work on the 296-km long Bundelkhand Expressway from Etawah to Chitrakoot was on a faster pace.
“The technical bids for the Ganga Expressway have been opened three days ago and final bids are set to be opened next week. If the successful bidders are finalised, the foundation stone of the project will be laid soon. Over 94% of the land acquisition for the project is done,” a senior UP government official told News18. This Expressway will crisscross the existing Lucknow-Agra Expressway, start from near the operational Delhi-Meerut Expressway of the NHAI and could cost almost Rs 36,000 crore.
The official added that 76% of work on the Bundelkhand Expressway was complete and the UP government was trying to make the road operational by the end of December. This project will also crisscross the existing Lucknow-Agra Expressway and will be the lifeline for the upcoming UP Defence Corridor project in Bundelkhand. The other two key projects set to be unveiled in the Gorakhpur region by the Prime Minister will be the Fertilizer Plant and AIIMS in Gorakhpur, tentatively on December 5.
The Samajwadi Party has been targeting the Yogi government for “only inaugurating projects started by the Akhilesh Yadav government”, including the 341-km long Purvanchal Expressway. A BJP leader in the state said the above-mentioned upcoming projects were all the signature ones of the Centre and the Yogi government “on which no one else can lay claim on”. He said these bouquet of projects will also appeal to the varied regions of the state like Western UP, Bundelkhand, Awadh (Central) and Eastern UP.