New frontiers of limitless development are opening up for eastern Uttar Pradesh, as the ambitious mega project of Purvanchal Expressway under Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) tidies up for inauguration at the hands of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 16.
The state has a vast network of State and National Highways, but in the last several decades, only two expressways could come up, and that too to connect the National Capital Region (NCR) with the state capital Lucknow. This had left major parts of the state without any means of rapid road connectivity.
In contrast, since 2017, as many as six expressways have been approved and Purvanchal Expressway is the first of them to be opened for transport on November 16.
This expressway is a critical component of the ambitious programme for the development of Purvanchal, or eastern districts of the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has made it amply clear several times in the last few years that the eastern region of UP, having been neglected for decades, will now be having some of the most modern infrastructure in the next few years.
The Purvanchal Expressway connects the state capital Lucknow to the eastern region via Azamgarh. With the development of this expressway, the eastern region of the state would not only be connected to Lucknow but also further to the National Capital through Agra-Lucknow and Yamuna Expressways.
Greenfield project
This greenfield expressway has its starting point at Chand Sarai village, located near the existing Lucknow-Sultanpur Road (NH-731) in Lucknow district. Its ending point is near village Haidaria on National Highway 19, 18 km before the UP-Bihar border, in Ghazipur district.
Its total length is 340.824 km, and it is fully access-controlled six-lane expressway which can be upgraded to 8 lanes.
The districts falling on the expressway are Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. The project has been divided into 8 packages for implementation. Contracts have been constituted with the developers of all packages with effect from October 2018. The project completion deadline was met as it is being dedicated to the people in November 2021.
Being an access-controlled expressway, it would provide benefits like fuel-saving, time saving and control in pollution level, along with reduction in accidents. The areas covered by the expressway would gain several social and economic benefits as agriculture, commerce, tourism, and other industrial development will get a flip.
Industrial training Institutes, educational institutions, medical institutes, new townships and other commercial establishments will be developed near the expressway areas. These activities will result in creation of more employment opportunities in the region.
Connectivity benefits
The Purvanchal Expressway, after getting connected with the existing Agra-Lucknow Expressway, will become a vast industrial corridor connecting eastern border of the state with the western border resulting in overall development of the state.
Road network
The expressways that will provide future-ready road connectivity to all corners of the state are:
• Delhi-Meerut Link Expressway (96 km), already open to public from April 2021
• Bundelkhand Expressway (296 km)
• Gorakhpur Link Expressway (92 km)
• Ganga Expressway (600 km)
• Lucknow Kanpur Elevated National Expressway (63 km)
Economic gains
The districts through which the Purvanchal Expressway passes had long been considered economically underdeveloped, with agriculture being the most prominent activity.
Now, with the expressway providing rapid and uninterrupted connectivity to Lucknow further west through Agra to Delhi, other produce from these districts will be easily and quickly transported to bigger markets.
Major gains are expected in getting a big market for ODOP (one district one product) items from these districts. It will also provide access to higher education, medical and health services and social development to a huge population.
The Project
• The Purvanchal Expressway will have 22 flyovers, 7 railway-over-bridges (ROB), 7 major bridges, 114 minor bridges, 6 toll plazas, 45 vehicular-underpasses (VUP), 139 Light VUP, 87 pedestrian underpass and 525 box culverts
• UPEIDA had divided the construction work of Purvanchal Expressway into 8 packages, which were awarded to 5 different contractors.