Uttar Pradesh Industries Minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’ said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the Bundelkhand Expressway at Kaitheri village in Orai tehsil of Jalaun district on Saturday.
He said the expressway would give a big boost to connectivity in Uttar Pradesh.
The minister said the Central government had granted environmental clearance to the Ganga Expressway project.
He said the Yogi Adityanath government was committed to enhancing connectivity across the country, a key feature of which was the improvement in road infrastructure.
“A significant endeavour towards this was the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of Bundelkhand Expressway by the prime minister on February 29, 2020. The work on the expressway has been completed within 28 months and it will now be inaugurated by the prime minister,” the minister said.
The 296-km four-lane expressway has been constructed at a cost of around Rs 14,850 crore, under the aegis of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and can later be expanded up to six lanes. It extends from National Highway 35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. It passes through seven districts, including Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah.
Along with improving connectivity in the region, the Bundelkhand Expressway will also give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people. Work on the creation of an industrial corridor in Banda and Jalaun districts, next to the expressway, has already been started.
The industry minister said 95 per cent of land for the Ganga Expressway had been acquired. He said for the 594-km-long Ganga Expressway, the government had taken possession of 50 per cent of the acquired land. He said by the end of December, the Purvanchal Expressway would be linked with Ballia district.
He said for the construction of the Ganga Expressway, the UP government was in constant touch with the National Highways Authority of India. He said this expressway was the biggest project of UP and it was a big challenge to obtain myriad clearances in such a short span.
The minister said during the first 100 days of the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0, an investment of Rs 80,224 crore had been brought on the ground. He said 1,406 new industrial units would be set up and the investment was estimated to generate six lakh fresh jobs.
He said in Gorakhpur, the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA) was setting up a Plastic Park spread in 898 acres at a cost of Rs 126 crore. “To promote ease of doing business (EODB), the government has reduced 241 regulatory compliances for the investors,” he added.
He said during the last five years exports from UP had doubled and during the last fiscal total export of goods and services from UP was to the tune of Rs 1.56 lakh crore.