UP’s Longest Expressway, To Be Built Along The Ganga, Likely To Get Funds In Upcoming State Budget

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is going ahead with his dream infrastructure project - the Ganga expressway. The project is likely to get financial sanction in the annual budget for financial year 2020-21, reports The Times Of India.

When this project will be completed, Uttar Pradesh will be the only state to have seven expressways in the country.

The proposed Ganga Expressway is approximately 628 km long, and will be the longest in the country when completed. It would start from Meerut, a suburb not very far from the national capital Delhi, and is likely to pass through Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, and end in Prayagraj.

If everything goes according as planned and with the required budget approved, the work on the project is likely to take off by the end of this year.

First proposed by the Mayawati government in 2007, the project’s environment clearance was canceled in 2009 by the Allahabad High Court. It was argued that the alignment proposed was too close to the Ganga river’s channel. Constructing close to the river channel would damage the flood plains of the river.

In January 2019, the Yogi Adityanath government revived the project. To make compliance with environmental laws easier, the government decided to shift the alignment of the expressway 10 kilometres away from the river channel. The final alignment, however, was not readied back then.

The project will cost Rs 36,000 crore and requires the acquisition of around 6,556 hectares of land. While Rs 13,862 crore will be spent on acquiring land for the expressway, Rs 22,090 crore will be spent on construction. It will be funded by a combination of debt (70 per cent) and equity (30 per cent).