PM Modi inaugurates Purvanchal Expressway
- Prime Minister inaugurated the Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh today.
- The expressway will traverse through nine districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Amethi, and Ghazipur.
- It will also connect important cities like Varanasi, Ayodhya, Gorakhpur and Allahabad through link roads.
About Purvanchal expressway:
- Purvanchal Expressway is one of the four six-lane access-controlled expressways (the Bundelkhand Expressway, the Gorakhpur Link Expressway and the Ganga Expressway being the other three) that are likely to remarkably transform Uttar Pradesh, making it the state with the largest expressway network in India.
- Upon completion of these four expressway projects, Uttar Pradesh will boast of 1,788 kms of expressways, the highest in the country.
- The Expressway starts from village Chaudsarai in the Lucknow district and ends at Haidaria village on National Highway number 31, 18 kilometres east of the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border.
- The key feature of the Expressway is the 3.2 km long airstrip to enable landing and take-off of Indian Air Force fighter planes in case of emergency.
- The project is being developed by the Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA)
Importance of the project
- This Expressway will connect them to Delhi via the 302-km long Agra-Lucknow Expressway as well as the 165-km long Agra-Greater Noida Yamuna Expressway. It will also pass through most backward districts of the state including, Azamgarh, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur and Mau.
- Estimated to cost Rs 22,496 crores, the Purvanchal Expressway will not only connect several central districts of the state with the eastern ones but also place these districts in a direct road connectivity network leading to the national capital Delhi.
- This connectivity will transform the under-developed region as well as usher in economic prosperity.
- This will also increase the prospects for tourism in Uttar Pradesh, and is likely to give a boost to agriculture, industrial and commercial activities.