LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is on fast track. The Agra-Lucknow Express highway, his dream project has got a green signal after a wait of three years. On October 29, the UP government signed the MoU after the bidding process was over. CM Yadav is pursuing the ambitious project to see it completed soon for tourism and economic activities in the state.
The project is being developed in an eco-friendly manner to the tune of PM Modi’s “zero effect zero defect” policy. The public-private partnership method is to be adopted to build the expressway in five phases. It is going to be six-lane, aiming to cause least harm to the agricultural land.
CM Yadav will lay the foundation stone for beginning the construction of the 302 km-long express highway on November 22. The construction of the Agra-Lucknow green field express highway is another big-ticket project of the CM.
Chief secretary Alok Ranjan, who has been monitoring the project’s progress, said the government would complete it in 36 months.
According to Navneet Sehgal, who as the CEO of the UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has pursued the project from the beginning, said the expressway will not only reduce the travel time from Agra to Lucknow to three hours from six, but also boost the economic activities, including agriculture. “Akhilesh Yadav had desired that the green field expressway should be designed to facilitate the farmers and milk producers. Five farm mandis would be developed along the expressway. Also, the government would be developing cities alongside the Expressway. It would realise the expenditure through the toll tax.”