Lucknow: Expressways, urban projects take lion’s share of extra funds

While Rs 1150 crore has been allotted for Bundelkhand Expressway, a demand of Rs 850 crore has been placed for Poorvanchal Expressway, which is under construction. The 300-km-long Bundelkhand Expressway was announced by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017. The expressway will begin from Jhansi and would connect different regions of Bundelkhand to Lucknow-Agra Expressway near Etawah.

For the recently announced Ganga Expressway project, that would connect Prayagraj with Meerut, the government has made a provision of Rs 15 crore to prepare its detailed project report (DPR). The Ganga Expressway project was announced by the Chief Minister earlier this year. The 600-km-long proposed expressway would cover districts like Mirzapur, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Kanpur, Hardoi, Shahjahanpur among others. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 36,000 crore.

Another Rs 12.70 crore has been proposed for the Gorakhpur Expressway project. For the 353-km-long Poorvanchal Expressway, which has the August 2020 deadline, the government has made a provision of another Rs 850 crore. Meanwhile, the government is also working on about 91-km-long Gorakhpur-link Expressway, which would connect Gorakhpur to Poorvanchal Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs 5,500 crore.

For urban development, the government has placed a fresh demand of Rs 2,175 crore. Among the projects to be financed under this include Rs 175 crore for state-funded Smart City projects in seven cities —Gorakhpur, Ayodhya, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Mathura and Shahjahanpur. A sum of Rs 100 crore has been set aside for installing sewage and drainage systems, while Rs 60 crore has been proposed for the development of parks in every district headquarters equipped with gym, place to play and perform Yoga.

The budget comes two weeks after CM Adityanath had set the target to achieve 1 trillion dollar economy for the state in the next three years.