Snapshot
The 115-km long four-lane highway will be constructed by the National Highways Authority of India, which will also build a nearly 24-km long link road to connect the highway with the Purvanchal Expressway.
Uttar Pradesh Expressway Development Authority (UPEIDA), the nodal agency for the construction of expressways in the state, will acquire the land needed for the Ghazipur-Manjhighat greenfield highway.
The 115-kilometre long four-lane highway will be constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The NHAI will also build a nearly 24-km long link road to connect the highway with the Purvanchal Expressway. With the construction of the two roads, the Purvanchal Expressway, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi late last year, will be linked to Ballia, UP’s easternmost district.
“Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed with NHAI on Wednesday (20 April), UPEIDA will acquire the land for both the roads,” Durgesh Upadhyay, media advisor to UPEIDA, told Swarajya.
However, the funding needed for acquiring land will be provided by NHAI, the senior UPEIDA official said, adding that the land acquisition process will begin very soon.
With the 340-km long Purvanchal Expressway linked to the Ballia district on the border with Bihar, the traffic on the newly operationalised e-way will increase significantly, Upadhyay said.
The Purvanchal Expressway originates in Lucknow and passes through eight eastern districts — Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. In the west, Lucknow is linked to the National Capital Region through the Yamuna and Agra-Lucknow expressways. With the opening of the Purvanchal e-way last year, Uttar Pradesh now has expressway connectivity between its eastern border with Bihar and the western boundary with Delhi.
According to the UPEIDA, the Purvanchal e-way has been completed in a record time of 36 months. The construction of the expressway began in October 2018 with the completion deadline set for October 2021.
A 91-kilometre-long e-way named Gorakhpur Link Expressway is also under construction to link the Purvanchal Expressway with the Gorakhpur district, the seat of the Gorakhnath Peeth which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath continues to head as mahant.