look news india
To further strengthen the road connectivity network in Uttar Pradesh, which has made its mark as an expressway state, the state government has intensified work on another big project. The process of detailed ground and technical survey for a new six-lane greenfield highway has been formally started in coordination with Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
The main objective of this new corridor is to establish direct, uninterrupted and high-speed connectivity between the two most important economic and cultural routes of the state—Purvanchal Expressway and the under-construction Ayodhya Link Expressway. With the implementation of this project, not only will the travel time between Lucknow, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Sultanpur and Azamgarh be reduced to half, but the economic and structural picture of about 500 villages falling within the scope of this route will also completely change.
This project is being designed in such a way that it acts as a major lifeline between eastern Uttar Pradesh and Ayodhya, the global center of religious tourism. At present, heavy and light vehicles going to Ayodhya from Purvanchal Expressway have to pass through state highways or narrow district routes, leading to jams and wastage of time at many places.
The new six-lane highway will start directly from a strategic interchange of the Purvanchal Expressway, touching rural areas and connecting to the Ayodhya Link Expressway and the nearby bypass of Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram International Airport:
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Proposed Length: New greenfield stretch of approximately 75 to 90 kilometres.
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Lane Capacity: Initially a 6-lane access-controlled highway, with adequate right of way (RoW) to be expanded to 8 lanes in the future.
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Connectivity Hub: This route will also provide smooth bypass to the traffic of Lucknow-Gorakhpur National Highway and Varanasi-Ayodhya Highway.
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Design Speed: Curves and gradients are being designed to suit the speed of 120 kmph.
The construction of this new expressway corridor is expected to directly benefit about 500 revenue villages in different districts. In the currently started survey, land is being identified on the basis of Khasra-Khatauni by joint teams of drone mapping, satellite imagery and revenue department.
New land acquisition policy will be implemented to protect the interests of farmers and landowners in land acquisition under the project:
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Coefficient of Rural Circle Rate: There is a preparation to give compensation up to four times the circle rate in rural areas, so that farmers can get a fair and attractive price for their land.
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Rise in land prices: As soon as the survey of the highway started, a huge increase is being seen in the market prices of agricultural and residential lands in the identified 500 villages and surrounding towns.
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Expansion of road connectivity: A dense network of service lanes and underpasses will be laid to connect these remote villages to the main expressways, so that farmers will take minutes instead of hours to transport their produce to the mandis.
Since the construction of the grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, lakhs of devotees are arriving every day from India and abroad. This new 6-lane highway will become a convenient and time-saving option for tourists and devotees coming from the districts of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Purvanchal.
Apart from religious tourism, there are plans to develop industrial corridors, warehousing hubs, cold storage and agro-processing clusters on both sides of this new route. Farmers of Purvanchal will be able to quickly send their seasonal vegetables, fruits and grains to the big markets of Lucknow and Delhi-NCR, which will create thousands of new opportunities for local employment and self-employment.
After completion of the survey, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be prepared and sent to the Cabinet for final approval. According to officials, the survey and DPR work is targeted to be completed within the next six to eight months. After this, after obtaining environmental clearances, formal notification of land acquisition will be issued under Section 11.
After the completion of the tender process, a blueprint is being drawn to complete the construction work in the stipulated time period of 24 to 30 months. If everything goes as per plan, this new six-lane expressway will prove to be another milestone in the expressway network of Uttar Pradesh.
