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Many historic decisions have been approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the direction of making Uttar Pradesh an expressway state and giving new momentum to religious tourism at the global level. The most important decision among these is to extend the Ganga Expressway beyond Meerut to Haridwar in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand. The state government will spend ₹10,761 crore on this project. Along with this, many important proposals related to Jhansi Link Expressway, concessions in new IT policy and industrial investment have also been approved to give new momentum to Bundelkhand.
Two Kumbh towns will be directly connected to Haridwar from Prayagraj: Greenfield project worth ₹10,761 crore.
As per the proposal approved by the Cabinet, the Ganga Expressway will be expanded from Meerut to Haridwar as a 6-lane greenfield expressway, which can be widened to 8 lanes in the future.
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Length and radius of route: The total length of this extended expressway will be approximately 130 to 147 kilometers, out of which about 100 kilometers will fall in Uttar Pradesh and about 30 kilometers in Uttarakhand.
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Toll and funding model: The Uttar Pradesh government itself will bear 100 percent of the expenditure of ₹ 10,761 crore on this entire project. For this, there will be an MoU between the two states and the Uttarakhand region’s share toll will also be collected by the UP government.
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Religious and economic benefits: With the construction of this expressway, the two historic Kumbh cities situated on the banks of Ganga—Prayagraj and Haridwar—will be directly connected by a high-speed controlled-access expressway network. This will provide direct connectivity to Bijnor, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and surrounding western UP districts with the capital Lucknow and Uttarakhand, which will lead to a huge boom in religious tourism as well as trade and employment.
Jhansi Link Expressway approved: Bundelkhand will transform with ₹7,968 crore
The Cabinet also approved the construction of Jhansi Link Expressway to accelerate connectivity and industrial development in the Bundelkhand region.
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This approximately 103 km long 4-lane expressway will directly connect Jhansi to the Bundelkhand Expressway near Jalaun.
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This project will have an estimated cost of ₹7,968.30 crore, the entire expense of which will also be borne by the state government.
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This link expressway will connect the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority (BIDA) area, Jhansi Defense Corridor node and surrounding major industrial hubs to the major highway networks of the country at a faster speed.
Amendment in Uttar Pradesh IT Policy 2022: Rules for IT City and IT Parks simplified
To attract IT and tech companies in the state on a large scale, the Cabinet has approved amendments to the IT and IT-Enabled Services Policy 2022:
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Land standards reduced for IT city: Earlier, minimum 100 acres of land was required to develop an IT city, which has now been reduced to only 20 acres. Along with this, a provision of up to 40% subsidy has been made on land.
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Relaxation in IT Parks rules: The minimum area limit for setting up IT parks in major cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Agra and Varanasi has been reduced from 15,000 square meters to 2,500 square meters. In other districts, it has been fixed at a minimum of 1,500 square meters, which will speed up the construction of tech parks even in small towns.
₹272 crore manufacturing cluster and mega investment projects in Sultanpur
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Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMLC): A proposal to set up an Integrated Manufacturing and Logistics Cluster at a cost of ₹272.25 crore under the Industrial Corridor Scheme in Sultanpur district along the Purvanchal Expressway has been approved.
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‘Letter of comfort’ for investment of ₹5,444 crore: Under the Uttar Pradesh Investment Promotion Policy 2023, approval was given for issuing ‘Letter of Comfort’ to 9 big mega and ultra-mega industrial projects. These include big investments by Agristo Massa in Bijnor (₹794.27 crore), Canpack India in Unnao (₹1,573.62 crore) and Supreme Industries in Kanpur Dehat (₹238.15 crore).