In a move to meet the deadline set for Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways, the Centre has included them in the “Pragati II” category of “national projects”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha personally review the progress of the projects every month.
Chief Secretaries of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh will also monitor the two projects.
“As the Prime Minister himself reviews this projects, they should be able to meet the deadline. Five construction companies are engaged in these projects,” said the sources.
The six-lane access controlled Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), coming up at a total cost of Rs 5,673 crore is being implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The EPE is one half of the peripheral road around Delhi whereas the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE) makes up for its other half. The Haryana Government is implementing the WPE.
Union Road and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has already announced that Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be completed within 400 days after the work is awarded to the agencies concerned. While the Western Expressway is almost 80 per cent ready, the work on the Eastern Expressway has been expedited. The start and end points of both EPE and the WPE are the same thereby forming a Ring-Road outside Delhi.
The alignment of EPE starts near Kundli (km 36.083 on NH-1), traverses to cross the Yamuna (EPE chainage 12.6 km), crosses NH-57 at 15.360 km, (near Mawikalan) NH-58 at 44.5 km (near Duhai), NH-24 at 52.19 km (near Dasna), NH-91 at 72.725 km (near Beel Akbarpur), Kasna-Sikandra road (near Sirsa), Taj Expressway (near village Jaganpur Afjalpur) at 91.900, river Yamuna (EPE chainage Km. 102.600), Atali-Chhainsa Road (near village Maujpur) and ends at Palwal (64.330 km on NH-2).
The two expressways — each about 135-km-long — were planned in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to form a ring road outside Delhi for channeling non-Delhi bound traffic, bypassing the national Capital. With rising air pollution levels and road accidents in Delhi, the need for the two expressways was highlighted even more.
While the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which envisages providing signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal is expected to be ready by this year, the Western Expressway connecting Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana will be ready next year.
last year, the Delhi Government had moved a plea in the Supreme Court to issue a directive for completion of the two expressways in a time-bound manner. The Delhi Government had complained that it was asked to bear 50 per cent cost of the Rs 844-crore project but the total project cost had been revised to Rs 3,589.56 crore. The Delhi Government had said that 10 years after committing to the project, Delhi was bearing the brunt of the continued movement of transit traffic, its hazards and resultant pollution, as well as the repeated demands for release of additional funds for the expressways.
