The development will be a major setback for the 270-km expressway project after no investors responded following the opening of the bidding process on Tuesday. Officials blamed the "poor economic scenario" for investors' disinterest in the project.
Anticipating such a response, the state government had earlier postponed the opening of bids in October to 12 November.
The expressway aims at faster connectivity between Lucknow and Delhi. Its estimated cost is around $1.4bn and was proposed to be taken up on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model like Yamuna Expressway.
The government is now exploring "alternative options" such as the state government taking up the project itself or seeking help from the Government of India through a viability gap funding model, or a fresh tender with "better sweeteners".