Three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway in 2018, the six-lane expressway was inaugurated today, on November 16. The ambitious project stretches through nine districts and covers a distance of 341 kilometres. 

“Uttar Pradesh will now transform under the BJP as the previous governments only cared about their family’s wealth,” PM Modi said while addressing the crowd at the inauguration event in Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district.

The Purvanchal Expressway will reduce the travel duration from Lucknow to Ghazipur by half and allow a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour. Earlier it took almost seven hours to travel the same distance and now the same can be covered in 3.5 hours.

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The Indian Air Force aircraft C-130 Hercules carrying PM Modi landed on an airstrip which is a part of the expressway. The airstrip has been constructed to support the armed forces during emergency situations. Following the arrival of PM Modi at the venue, an air show was also organised where combat jets performed the touch and go manoeuvre at the airstrip. Mirage 2000, Sukhoi-30 MKI and Jaguar fighter jet participated in the event. 

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Some highlights of the Purvanchal Expressway:

• The expressway begins at Chandsarai village in the Lucknow  district located on the Lucknow-Sultanpur road and ends at Haidaria village on National Highway 31 in Ghazipur district. 

• The highway passes through Lucknow, Barabanki, Sultanpur, Amethi, Ayodhya, Ambedkarnagar, Azamgarh, Mau, and Ghazipur. The project is built at a cost of about Rs 22.5 billion.

• There are 18 flyovers, seven railway over bridges, seven long bridges, 104 minor bridges, 13 interchanges and 271 underpasses on the expressway.

• The expressway is expected to provide an impetus to the trade, tourism, agriculture and the overall development of the eastern Uttar Pradesh region.

• As per the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA), an area encompassing 9,179 hectares of land has been marked for commercial projects involving textiles, electronic appliances, chemicals, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

“This expressway will prove to be the backbone of Eastern UP. Its inauguration will be in a grand way, accompanied by an air show as a three-and-a-half-km long stretch near Sultanpur has been developed as an airstrip for emergency landing of aircraft,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said at the event.

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