The construction of the Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh is set to begin this year, and it will feature a unique addition – a 3.5 km long air strip.
This air strip will act as an emergency runway for Indian Air Force fighter jets. This is not the first time such an air strip has been built as part of an expressway, with the Purvanchal Expressway also featuring one.
During the inauguration of the Purvanchal Expressway, Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed on the air strip on a C-17 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force. This was followed by the landings of Su-30 MKIs, Jaguars and Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force.
Earlier, Indian Air Force fighter, including Mirage 2000 and Su-30 MKIs, have performed touch-and-go landings on air strips part of the Yamuna Expressway and the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.
Ganga Expressway
The preparatory work on the expressway is gaining pace, with clearing and grubbing work done on 500 km out of the total 593.94 km.
The progress report from the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority shows that 84.11% of clearing and grubbing work and 7.3% of earthwork has been completed on the expressway.
The six-lane expressway was officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 December 2021 in Shahjahanpur.
The project was stuck in the planning stages since 2007 and was revived in 2019 by the Yogi Adityanath government.
Traversing through 12 districts — Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareilly, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj — the fully access controlled expressway would connect the eastern and western parts of the state.
While the Adani Group will build around 80 per cent of the expressway — the 464 km stretch between Budaun in the western part of the state to Prayagraj in the eastern part, IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited will develop the 129.7 km stretch from Meerut to Badaun.
For regular updates, follow Swarajya’s tracker on Ganga Expressway.