Purvanchal Expressway: PM Modi to inaugurate 340 km long highway next week. 5 updates

Uttar Pradesh’s industrial development minister Satish Mahana has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 340 km long Purvanchal Expressway next week.

The expressway will start from the state capital in Lucknow and end in Ghazipur in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Here is all you need to know about the Purvanchal Expressway:

The six-lane Purvanchal Expressway, expandable to eight lanes, will connect Lucknow with the economically less developed districts like Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur, Faizabad, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar and Amethi.

With this expressway, the eastern districts of  Uttar Pradesh will get linked with New Delhi via Yamuna expressway and it will become the longest expressway in the country.

The Purvanchal Expressway will start from village Chand Sarai in Lucknow and end in Haidariya village in Ghazipur district.

The project cost of Purvanchal Expressway is around ₹22,494.66 crore, including cost of land.

Purvanchal Expressway will also be used as an emergency runway for Indian Air Force aircrafts. It will allow fighter jets of the Indian Air Force to use it as an airstrip for emergency situations.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier said,"Earlier investments went out, but now investment is coming to the country from outside. Earlier people used to say that UP starts with potholes and ditches and now it is known for expressways and a network of four-lane roads.”

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav claimed that if the SP was in power, the Purvanchal Expressway would have been completed in less time, and said the BJP government could never finish the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in four-and-half years.