In order to decongest Delhi roads, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has asked the Delhi Government to deposit its pending share of about Rs 1,141.28 crore towards the land acquisitions for the Eastern and Western Express Peripheral Expressways. On the other hand, Delhi lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung has urged the Centre to cap the share as per the project cost as on 2010.
In a letter to Jung, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari stated that if there was any increase in the cost, it would be appropriated among the Governments of Delhi, UP and Haryana in the proportion of 50 per cent, 25 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
The letter said, “The lA (land acquisition) cost for these projects have gone up from initial Rs 844.00 crore to Rs 3,589.56 crore due to arbitration awards over which the Union and State Governments have no control. Accordingly, the share of the Government of NCT of Delhi works out to Rs 1,794.78 crore, out of which Rs 653.50 crore has already been deposited and Rs 1,141.28 crore is still pending.”
The Minister said that both the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) were making efforts at their end for land acquisition as well as achieving progress of the two projects. He said that the EPE was now proposed to be taken up on the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode and the project would be soon on the ground. He said that the land acquisition was crucial for the start and successful completion of the project.
The letter said, “With regard to the request for capping the cost of land acquisition, it may be appreciated that the cost of land acquisition is difficult to be firmed up as the cost keeps on varying till the final amount of compensation is awarded by the competent authority for land acquisition (CAlA) and arbitrators etc… In view of above circumstances, I request you to take urgent action to deposit the pending share of Rs 1,141.28 crore of Government of NCT of Delhi, towards land acquisition for the above projects.”
It is noted that the lieutenant-Governor has stated that the Delhi Government has already contributed Rs 653.50 crore for the project till now. The Delhi Government has already exceeded its share as per the original cost-sharing formula, which had fixed Rs 422 crore as the share of the Delhi Government. Apparently, the cost of land acquisition has been revised several times taking the shares of Delhi from Rs 422 crore to Rs 1,794.78 crore.
The two expressways — each about 135 km long —were planned in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to form a Ring Road outside the city for channeling non-Delhi bound traffic bypassing the national Capital. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) envisages providing signal free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal.
The Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE) will be connecting Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana. The Centre has already set a deadline of three years to complete the expressways, which aim to decongest the city roads.