The Union Minister further said that the project would cost about Rs 28,000 crore with 90 per cent central funding.
Promising to build roads worth Rs 2 lakh crore in UP before 2019 Lok Sabha polls if the land acquisition comes through, Union Minister for Road Transport Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari on Thursday also said a water transport service between Varanasi and Allahabad, along with four river ports on this route, would be provided before the 2019 Kumbh Mela.
The minister, who visited different cities of eastern UP to lay foundation stones for projects worth crores, held meetings with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, state and central government officials to resolve pending issues. Claiming that the issue between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over Kane-Betwa river linking project has been resolved, Gadkari said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would lay the foundation stone for the project within two months.
The Union Minister further said that the project would cost about Rs 28,000 crore with 90 per cent central funding. “Bundelkhand ko pariwartan karne wali yojna do mahine mein shuru ho jayegi (The project to change Bundelkhand would get started in two months),” he said.
“If the required land acquisition is done, then before we finish five years i.e. before March 2019, we will construct roads worth Rs 2 lakh crore in UP,” Gadkari said, adding that projects worth Rs 60,000 crore were already in the pipeline, including that of the Lucknow Bypass.
Gadkari said that considering the importance of Kumbh, his ministry has decided to extend Varanasi-Haldia waterways project to Allahabad as well. Apart from promising water transport on this route before the 2019 Kumbh Mela, Gadkari said that he has also sanctioned Rs 2,000-crore bridge over Ganga in Allahabad, apart from giving Rs 10,000 crore to UP from Central Road Fund. Gadkari said that within the next three months, the central government also plans to come out with a law for the operation of seaplanes.