Mayawati announces UP-Noida link

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Mayawati announced on Wednesday an ambitious Rs40,000-cr, 1000-km Ganga Expressway which will link even the remotest parts of eastern UP to Noida at the western end of the state.

The eight-lane ultra-modern expressway from Ballia on the UP-Bihar border to Noida on the UP-Delhi border will reduce travel time by half. 

“This is the biggest road project ever in the country,” Mayawati said. “The only parallel this expressway has is the Grand Trunk Road built by Sher Shah Suri more than five centuries ago,” she remarked.

Ganga Expressway will bring about all-round development to the hitherto backward and under-developed remote eastern parts of UP, she said, adding that it would help tackle the regional imbalance between east and west UP to a great extent.

The Ballia-Noida Ganga Expressway will have seven link expressways or arterial roads to connect other places en route. Speaking after a visually-aided presentation, Mayawati said the project would create a network of world-class roads in the state. “At present, the drive from Varanasi to Delhi takes 20 to 24 hours, on the expressway, it will take only eight to 10 hours,” she said.