To meet the challenges of land acquisition and to decongest traffic hotspots in the national Capital, Union Government on Tuesday gave its nod for the much awaited Mahipalpur-Bypass, the Rs 188 crore flyover project. The flyover will provide direct access to airport commuters from South Delhi.
It is important to mention here that the Mahipalpur bypass project is aimed at decongesting arterial roads. As per the Government officials, in this Mahipalpur project, there was an issue as the land belongs to land owning agency — the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Meanwhile, to combat pollution and traffic problem within limited duration, the Government has started this project on ground. “I am glad that work on the project is being started on ground now. The work shall be completed in 400 days and the residents of Delhi will get great relief in moving across the city with implementation of this project,” Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs.
“This project will facilitate the movement of traffic from the International Airport and create a better impression of the city amongst the visitors and tourists,” he added.
The Central Government had sanctioned 80 per cent of the cost of the project amounting to Rs 150.40 crore from the Urban Development Fund in July 2016 to take up the work.
However, the remaining 20 per cent amount was to be sanctioned by the Delhi Government. “The work could not be started as the Delhi Government did not sanction its share of the cost. We then decided to sanction the entire cost of the project and assigned the work to the CPWD in October 2017,” said an officer.
Earlier, the Government had set up a High Powered Committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary (Urban Development) in October, 2014 for suggesting measures for decongesting Delhi traffic. “The Committee made various innovative recommendations like improving public transport and reducing use of private vehicles, improving walkability, use of non-motorised transport, multi-model integrated transport system, inter-linked city transport in National Capital Region (NCR), transit oriented development and capacity building. It also suggested strict enforcement of parking rules, junction improvements, removing choking points and improving network connectivity,” stated the official release.
“In order to implement the measures for decongestion of Delhi, the Government announced an assistance of Rs 3,250 crore from the Urban Development Fund (UDF) in November 2015 for undertaking junction improvements, providing missing link and removing choking points in Delhi. Works are in progress on implementation of these measures,” official mentioned in official statement.