Poorvanchal expressway will now extend to Ballia

LUCKNOW: The Poorvanchal expressway, longest in the country, will be extended up to Ballia, on the Bihar border.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath gave the go-ahead to the UP Industrial and Expressway Development Authority (UPIEDA) two days ago, for the extension of the last stretch of the road.
Earlier, the expressway, starting from Lucknow, was to culminate at Ghazipur.But Yogi wanted the stretch to extend up to Ballia, once represented by former prime minister Chandra Shekhar.
With this, the length of the expressway is likely to be around 400 km, passing through nine districts. The decision has been taken in view of demand from people of Ballia.
The increased project cost of the Poorvanchal expressway is not known yet as the fresh DPR for the extension is being worked out with a new survey on the stretch from Ghazipur to Ballia.
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The expressway was supposed to be up to Ballia when the project took off in the previous Samajwadi Party government but was later curtailed to Ghazipur.
The six-lane Poorvanchal expressway, expandable upto eight lane, starts from Lucknow and passes through Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad,
Ambedkarnagar, Azamgarh and Ghazipur.
The length of the road, which was 340 km, is now likely to reach 400 km. Similarly, the estimated cost of the project was Rs 11216 crore, which would now go up.
Last week, state chief secretary Anoop Pandey had conducted a spot inspection of the progress of the road and assured that it would be completed before June 2019.