The Uttar Pradesh government is vigorously pursuing the agenda of developing industrial cities along expressways and highways.

The government is set to develop a new industrial city near Bundelkhand Expressway on the lines of Noida. The government is also likely to announce the setting up of new industrial cities near many more expressways in the near future.

Uttar Pradesh is the state with the highest number of expressways in the country. At present, six expressways are operational in the state while seven are under construction.

The objective behind developing industrial cities is to increase the pace of development along these high-speed routes manifold in order to achieve the $ 1-trillion economy goal by 2027. The government will develop all types of necessary infrastructure in these industrial cities.

The industrial cities to be developed along expressways will, on the one hand, strengthen the economy of the state and, on the other, ease population in the existing cities.

Currently Purvanchal Expressway, Bundelkhand Expressway, Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, Meerut-Delhi Expressway and Yamuna Expressway are operational in Uttar Pradesh, whereas the construction of Gorakhpur Link Expressway, Ballia Link Expressway, Ganga Expressway, Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Expressway, Ghaziabad-Kanpur Expressway and Gorakhpur-Siliguri Expressway is going on at a fast pace.

The government is moving forward in the direction of developing new cities along with constructing various industrial parks along expressways. Recently, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced plans to establish a new industrial city on the lines of Noida in an area of about 14, 000 hectares near Jhansi.

Apart from this, the first pharmaceutical park of Uttar Pradesh will also be built in Lalitpur. Similarly, Noida international airport on Yamuna Expressway is being developed like an industrial city through various commercial and residential schemes, including Film City, Toy Park and Logistics Park. Similar activities are likely to be accelerated along other expressways in the coming days.

In order to develop Uttar Pradesh as an industrial hub, the government is preparing land banks on a large-scale by expediting disposal of pending revenue and consolidation cases. Through the UP Investors’ Summit of 2018, investments worth more than Rs 4.28 lakh crore have got off the ground in the state.

At the same time, the government is trying its best to implement the historic investment proposals worth Rs 38 lakh crore received during the UP Global Investors’ Summit of 2023. New industries will be established through various industrial parks along the expressways. This will create employment opportunities for the youth of the state on a massive scale and check their migration to other cities for a living. This will also ease the rising burden of population on existing cities.

The major industrial activities in Uttar Pradesh currently include, construction of revolver factory in Hardoi, plastic factory and steel rolling mill in Kanpur Dehat, mega food park in Bareilly, bulk drug park in Lalitpur, plastic park in Noida and Gorakhpur, Varanasi and charcoal plant in Gorakhpur, flatbed factories in Agra, Gorakhpur and Kanpur, development of industrial corridor through Green Corridor in Lucknow, pottery complex in Khurja, International Film City in Noida, medical device park in YEIDA area, setting up of textile park on Hardoi-Lucknow border, PepsiCo plant near Purvanchal Link Expressway, green ammonia plant in Gorakhpur, ethanol and distillery plant in Gorakhpur, Amul plant in Varanasi and the country’s first perfume park in Kannauj. As these big projects take shape, large-scale urbanisation will also take place around them.