Bundelkhand Expressway in Uttar Pradesh is likely to be inaugurated in the first week of July as over 95 per cent work has been completed on the project.
The project is being executed by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA).
“The inauguration of Bundelkhand Expressway is likely to be in the first week of July,” Durgesh Upadhya, media advisor to UPEIDA, tweeted on Saturdayn (4 June).
“The Construction work is in the final stages..more than 95 per cent of work has been completed,” he added.
The 296-kilometre-long expressway was proposed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in April 2017, just months after he took office for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for constructing the expressway on 29 February 2020.
Despite two waves of Covid-19 induced restrictions and a severe rainy season in 2021, the Uttar Pradesh government has achieved over 94 per cent completion within 27 months since laying the foundation.
Bundelkhand Expressway begins near Bharatkoop at Jhansi-Prayagraj National Highway Number-35 in Chitrakoot district and ends close to village Kudrail in Etawah district on Agra-Lucknow expressway.
Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh has taken up this expressway to accelerate development in the Bundelkhand area, especially in less developed districts like Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur, and Jalaun.
This expressway will be four lanes (expandable up to six lanes) with six lane-wide structures.
A service road of 3.75-metre width will be constructed on one side of the expressway in a staggered form so that residents of nearby villages of the project area may get a smooth transportation facility.
The construction cost is estimated to be more than Rs 7,700 crore. The project has been divided into six packages. Contracts have been constituted with developers like Apco Infratech, Ashoka Buildcon, Gavar Construction and Dilip Bildcon.
With the construction of the expressway, the Bundelkhand area will be linked with a fast and smooth traffic corridor to the Agra-Lucknow expressway and Yamuna expressway, thus further connected to the National Capital Region (NCR Delhi).