In a big relief for the people of Delhi, the Government has announced that it will soon start the construction of its three big projects to decongest the Capital from around-the-clock heavy traffic. Minister for Roads Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has set a three-month time-frame to start the projects.
Plans are afoot to build a 16-lane road worth `5,000 crore connecting Delhi with Ghaziabad and Noida on the outskirts of the Capital.
Even the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which was proposed in 2006 to provide signal-free connectivity between the national Capital and neighbouring towns, which hasn’t made any progress so far, may finally make some headway.
According to Ministry, work on the project for widening of National Highway-24 connecting Delhi up to Dasna in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to 16-lanes as part of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway package, will begin in three months.
“We are making a 16-lane highway on NH-24 from near ITO till Dasna. This will also ease traffic jams in Delhi and it will pass through the Akshardham temple. The work will start on this project in 3 months,” Gadkari told the media in an interview.
“The cost of the project could be in the range of `4,000 to `5,000 crore,” he added.
The widening of the road will start from near the Yamuna Bridge on NH 24. The carriage way will go up to Dasna via UP-Delhi border and eventually till Meerut, an official said.
The 16-lane project would include 6-lanes as expressway, which means it will be an access-controlled highway.
“File on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, has gone from the Finance Ministry to the Cabinet and is pending clearance. We are hoping that the matter will be taken up for consideration by the Cabinet in the coming week,” said an official from MoRTH.
“Since the Delhi Government has expressed complete inability to raise funds or provide land for the project, we are now exploring other options. We have made an in-principle decision to take up the project on EPC mode, (Engineering, Procurement, Construction), where the government bears all the construction costs,” said the official.
last week, Delhi PWD Minister Satyendra Jain met Gadkari to request him to exempt the Delhi Government from paying more on account of land acquisition expenses.
Jain had submitted that Delhi government had paid its share of `653.5 crore towards land acquisition expenses against the original share of `422 crore. Jao said that four revisions of the project cost, raised Delhi Government’s share to `1,795 crore, which was 50 per cent of the total cost of `3,589 crore, which was beyond the means of the state.
The Eastern Peripheral Expressway — about 135 km long — were planned in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to form a ring road outside Delhi. It envisages to provide signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal.