Central government approves road projects worth Rs 100 billion in Uttar Pradesh

The central government has approved projects worth Rs 100 billion for the construction and upgradation of various roads under the Central Road Fund in Uttar Pradesh. The government has also approved the development of the 320 km six-lane road from Jhansi to the Agra-Lucknow Expressway via Jalaun, Orai and Bela, at an estimated cost of Rs 96 billion. Further, the construction of a six-lane bridge over the Ganga river in Allahabad at a cost of Rs 24.6 billion; the 76 km inner ring road in Allahabad at a cost of Rs 35 billion; the Jhansi-Allahabad (via Chitrakoot) four-lane expressway; and ring roads or bypass roads in Bareilly, Goverdhan, Kanpur, Meerut, Moradabad and Gorakhpur have also received approval from the MoRTH. Meanwhile, the central and state governments have reached a consensus on constructing ring roads in the main cities of Uttar Pradesh such as Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Kanpur, Moradabad and Meerut. Further, the central government has proposed the upgradation of another 15 state highways that are to be converted into national highways. Further, the Uttar Pradesh government has reported to have made nearly 63 per cent of state roads pothole free. According to the state public works department, nine departments, with a total of 121,034 km of pothole-ridden roads, have repaired up to 76,356 km of such roads over a period of under three months.