The work on proposed 170 km long Upper Ganga Canal Expressway to be built on the right bank of Ganga is likely to begin by March. The 8-lane expressway would connect the Eastern Peripheral Expressway near Ghaziabad to the border of Uttarakhand.

An agreement was signed between The Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) and the project consultant Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDC) for the expressway recently.

The work would begin after the consultant submits its report. ILFS Infrastructure Limited has been appointed for carrying out a feasibility study. Requests for qualification and then request for proposal will be invited before the final choice of the developer.

The irrigation department is said to have enough land for construction of the expressway removing problems relating to land acquisition. The state government has also initiated a process with the Uttarakhand government for constructing the road between Purkazi and Haridwar.

The concept of the expressway was by an 11 member team headed by industrial development commissioner. The team included principal secretaries of various departments like housing, urban development, irrigation, public works department, finance and planning.

Previously the expressway was known as Hindon Expressway. The name was later changed by the UP government late last year as the rout of the proposed expressway was changed to align with the Upper Ganga Canal instead of the Hindon river.