Varanasi, April 29 (IANS). Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer prayers at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi on Wednesday, after which he will leave for Hardoi. In Hardoi he will inaugurate the 594 km long Ganga Expressway built at a cost of Rs 36,230 crore.
According to an official statement, the Prime Minister will have darshan and puja at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple at around 8.30 am. After this, he will travel to Hardoi and inaugurate the Ganga Expressway at around 11.30 am. He will also address a public meeting.
The inauguration of the Ganga Expressway will mark an important milestone in the development of world-class infrastructure in the country. According to an official statement, the Ganga Expressway is a 594-km-long, 6-lane, access-controlled greenfield high-speed corridor built at a total cost of about Rs 36,230 crore.
This expressway passes through 12 districts, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj. It thus connects the western, central and eastern regions of Uttar Pradesh through a single seamless high-speed corridor.
The project is expected to significantly reduce the travel time between Meerut and Prayagraj, the statement said. Instead of the present 10-12 hours, the journey will now take about 6 hours, which will ease the commute and increase the efficiency of transportation.
A key feature of this project is the 3.5 km long ‘Emergency Landing Facility’ (airstrip) in Shahjahanpur district. Ganga Expressway is being seen as a major economic corridor, in which integrated manufacturing and logistics corridors will be developed on about 2,635 hectares of land in the 12 districts falling along its route.
The statement said this expressway will reduce logistics costs, improve supply chain efficiency and enhance manufacturing competitiveness. Better connectivity will give farmers direct access to urban and export markets, which will enable them to get better prices for their produce and strengthen rural incomes.
The Ganga Expressway will also serve as the backbone of a larger network of expressways in the state. Along with this, several link corridors are either operational or being planned, including the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Jewar Link Expressway, Farrukhabad Link Expressway and the proposed extension from Meerut to Haridwar.
–IANS
DCH/