Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation, two important national highways in Varanasi, having a total length of 34 kilometres and constructed at a cost of Rs 1571.95 crore on Monday.

He will be accompanied by UP Governor Shri Ram Naik, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The function will be held in the afternoon at Ring Road Tiraha, Hardua, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

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

The Babatpur Airport highway will link Varanasi to the airport and go on to Jaunpur, Sultanpur and Lucknow. With a flyover at Harhua and a ROB at Tarna, the road will reduce the travel time from Varanasi to the airport. This will prove a big relief to the people of Varanasi and to tourists and other visitors to the city.

The Ring Road, with two ROBs and a flyover, 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, thereby reducing traffic congestion in the city. This will reduce travel time, fuel usage and pollution in the area. The Ring Road will provide easier and more convenient access to Sarnath, an important site for Buddhist pilgrimage.

These projects will also provide increased employment opportunities, development of small and medium industries and give a boost to economic development in the area. Currently, NH projects of total length 2833 km, costing Rs 63,885 crore are underway to link Varanasi to other places in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister will also dedicate to the nation 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 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 capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT on river Ganga.

PM will also receive the country’s first container consignment (post-independence) to be sent on an inland waterways vessel. This consignment containing cargo of the food and beverage company Pepsico set sail from Kolkata in the last week of October.