Lucknow to Meerut travel time to reduce to 5 hours with Ganga Expressway

The projected Ganga Expressway will become the backbone of Uttar Pradesh's economy and decrease the travel time between Lucknow and Meerut to five hours, said state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday. The CM also informed that the project, set to be the second-longest expressway in UP, will help one reach from Prayagraj in east to Meerut in west, and vice versa, in 6.5 hours. “The state government had decided to create a 594 km-long expressway between Prayagraj and Meerut. A total of 93% of the land acquisition process is complete for that," said Yogi Adityanath. “Agra-Lucknow expressway has been completed. I am grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for allocation of funds in Union budget for big infrastructure development," he added. The statements came in the backdrop of Sitharaman launching the third phase of 'Mission Shakti' in Lucknow. “When a woman gets encouragement and opportunity, she does not feel shy, and once she becomes a part of a task, she gives her best," said the FM at the event. The Union minister said the Centre is promoting women-led development, and the Uttar Pradesh government is taking all those programmes with the same vigour. Later, Punjab National Bank MD & CEO S S Mallikarjuna Rao handed over a loan sanction letter of ₹5,100 crore for implementation of the Ganga Expressway project to the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). About Ganga Expressway The eight-lane project will cost nearly ₹36,000 crore and its proposed length is 594 km. The expressway will begin at Bijauli village in Meerut, and end at Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj. It will go through 12 districts in UP: Meerut (15 kms), Hapur (33 kms), Bulandshahr (11kms), Amroha (26 kms), Sambhal (39 kms), Badaun (92kms), Shahjahanpur (40 kms), Hardoi (99 kms), Unnao (105 kms), Rae Bareli (77 kms), Pratapgarh (41 kms) and Prayagraj (16 kms). Combined with the Yamuna Expressway, which connects Greater Noida to Agra, the Ganga Expressway would ensure a high-speed road corridor linking Lucknow to Delhi and the National capital Region (NCR), Nirmala Sitharaman's office said in a tweet. "The amount of ₹5,100 crore, under the securitisation process, will be repaid to the bank within a period of 15 years from the toll to be received on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway," it said. "During this period of loan repayment, the expressway would continue to be owned and operated by UPEIDA," it added.