LUCKNOW: The Purvanchal Expressway is likely to be thrown open to the public on January 14 next year. UPEIDA CEO Awanish Awasthi made this announcement on Saturday after he and IIDC Alok Tandon made an aerial survey of the 341-km project connecting the state capital with Ghazipur. Awasthi told TOI after his inspection that the first two packages beginning from Lucknow will be started in December itself and the remaining six packages by mid-January. “The project is being completed in record time,” he said. The expressway will pass through nine districts, Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur.
“Had there not been a stringent lockdown for two months in the wake of the pandemic, we would have dedicated the entire 341-km long Purvanchal Expressway on the scheduled date of November 14, but now most likely it will be around January 14,” Awasthi, who is supervising construction of multiple expressways worth Rs 75,000 crore in the state, said. Awasthi said that he and the IIDC made an inspection of the Purvanchal Expressway on the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“We did spot testing and checking of the quality of the construction and the material and were satisfied with the speed of the work as well as the material used,” he added.
The Purvanchal Expressway is the dream project of the chief minister, who has been branding it as the lifeline of the state which will connect the eastern parts of the state to Delhi via Agra-Lucknow Expressway and give a huge boost to the economic activities. It was Awasthi’s 21st spot inspection of the work at Purvanchal Expressway since the beginning of the project and he has been pursuing it aggressively by holding weekly review meetings.