As the long-pending project of six-laning of Gurgaon-Jaipur section of National Highway-8 nears completion, the Union Government is planning another ambitious project to build an expressway to connect the national Capital with the Pink City at a whopping cost of Rs32,800 crore.
“We are planning to build a new Greenfield Expressway to connect Delhi and Jaipur. This will further reduce the travel time between the two cities from 3.25 hours to 2.30 hours,” said Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, after reviewing the on-going construction at Gurgaon-Jaipur highway.
“We are studying the feasibility of the project for a greenfield expressway between Delhi and Jaipur. The project cost is estimated at Rs32,800 crore. Of this, Rs18,000 crore will be needed for land acquisition,” he said.
Gadkari said that about 2,800 hectares will have to be acquired for the 261 km-long expressway stretch.
“We plan to start the project from Shivmurthi, which is at the south end of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, and end it at Daulatpura in Jaipur,” said Gadkari.
“This will be a green highway, trees on both sides of the road, drip irrigation, beautification and axis control for preventing wildlife from coming on the roads,” he said.
Gadkari said that the Government was also hopeful of inaugurating the six-laned Gurgaon-Jaipur section of the NH 8 by December this year. “Government is largely responsible for delays in this crucial highway project, which should have been completed by 2011. The State and the Centre should have proactively solved the issues pertaining to land acquisition, environmental clearance, and shifting of utility which led to unexpected delays,” said Gadkari.
“Barring three structures, 54 of the structures including flyovers will be completed by December, when we will inaugurate the project,” he said.
Currently, work on seven of 57 flyovers is in progress. Four structures including the flyover at Dharuheda will be completed by December 2015 and three structures - at Sidhrawali, Kothputli and Shahpura - are expected to be completed by March 2016.
To further decongest the traffic on the urban stretches of the highway, the Government is also carrying out feasibility studies for providing bypasses to six major towns, Manesar (14.4 km at the cost of Rs 273 cr), Dharuheda (13.4 km at the cost of Rs 192 cr), Behror (7.5 km att the cost Rs 122 cr), Kotputli (10.4 km at the cost of Rs 176 cr), Paota (4.4km at the cost of Rs 70 cr), and Shahpura (8.3 km at the cost of Rs 139 cr).
Gadkari said that these bypasses are under active consideration but will be awarded only after 80 per cent acquisition of required land.