PM inaugurates two National highways and inland waterway in Varanasi

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VARANASI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on November 12, inaugurated two national highways in Varanasi, having a total length of 34 kilometres and construction cost of Rs 1571.95 crore. He was accompanied by the Chief Minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath, Ram Naik, Governor and Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. The function was held in the afternoon at Ring Road Tiraha, Harhua, Varanasi.

The 16.55 km long Varanasi Ring Road Phase-I has been completed at a cost of Rs 759.36 crore, while the construction work on 17.25 km Babatput-Varanasi road to make it a four-lane road on NH-56 has cost Rs 812.59 crore.

The Babatpur Airport highway will link Varanasi to the airport and will further connect Jaunpur, Sultanpur and Lucknow. With a flyover at Harhua, the travel time from Varanasi to the airport will be reduced.

The Ring Road will provide a way for traffic on NH 56 (Lucknow-Varanasi), NH 233 (Azamgarh-Varanasi), NH 29 (Gorakhpur-Varanasi) and Ayodhya – Varanasi highways to bypass Varanasi city and it will provide easier and convenient access to Sarnath.

Currently, NH projects with the total length of 2833 km, costing Rs 63,885 crore are under construction to link Varanasi to other places in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister also inaugurated an inland waterways terminal on river Ganga in Varanasi. This is the first of the four multimodal terminals being constructed on NW-I (River Ganga) as a part of the World Bank aided Jal Marg Vikas project of the Inland Waterways Authority of India. The other three terminals are under construction at Sahibganj, Haldia and Gazipur. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with the capacity of 1500-2,000 deadweight (DWT) on river Ganga.

(With inputs from PIB)