The Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), popularly known as the Dwarka Expressway, will be constructed in five phases, Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in New Delhi on Monday after meeting members of an association that demanded speedy completion of the key road that promises to decongest the city hit by massive influx of in-transit vehicles.
“The final notification for acquiring land in New Delhi for the Expressway has been issued. The NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) will soon start the process of acquiring land and construct the expressway in five phases,” Singh said.
The minister said that in the first phase, a 5.3km stretch will be constructed from Shiv Murti, located adjacent to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway in New Delhi, to the railway underbridge (RUB) in Dwarka.
In the second phase, a 4.2 km stretch from the RUB to the New Delhi-Haryana border would be built, followed by a 10.2 km stretch from New Delhi-Haryana border to the Basai railway overbridge (ROB), and then a 7.9km stretch from the Basai ROB to the Kherki Daula toll plaza in phase 4. The final phase will be approximately 4km long and connect the IGI Airport to the NPR.
However, the minister did not divulge any details on the timeline for the commencement or estimated completion of the entire project.
The announcement by Singh was made during an interaction with members of DXP Welfare Association, a group of homebuyers who have stake in residential areas on the stretch. DXP is short for Dwarka Expressway.
On Friday, Singh had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon lay the foundation stone for the Dwarka Expressway. However, the minister did not mention a date or time span for when the foundation stone would be laid.
During the meeting, association members informed Singh that the issues of delay in completing the expressway need to be addressed at the earliest as it affects two lakh homebuyers.
The Union minister assured that all the hurdles affecting speedy completion of the stretch, especially in Gurgaon, are being tackled on priority and that these issues will be resolved soon.
Singh added that he is in constant consultation with the Prime Minister and Union urban development, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari regarding the project.
On Wednesday, Gadkari had also made an announcement similar to Singh’s in New Delhi stating that Modi will “soon lay the foundation stone for the Dwarka Expressway”.
The Haryana urban development authority had announced the Dwarka Expressway project in 2007. The NHAI took over the project from Huda in October 2016, but also found themselves stuck over litigation issues affecting land in New Palam Vihar. This has held up the completion of the expressway.
Until the land transfer, NHAI’s tender to start construction of a 10km elevated road between Delhi border and the Basai ROB will remain on hold.
With the project hanging fire, lakhs of homebuyers, who have invested in residential complexes along the expressway, have been demanding that the project be put on fast track.
Eleven years in the making
The Northern Peripheral Road Expressway project was announced in 2007
The total length of the Northern Peripheral Road Expressway is 29km
Road length in Haryana is 18.9km, and 10.1km is in New Delhi
The NPR has been extended to the National Highway near Shiv Murti in Mahipalpur, New Delhi
With this, the estimate project cost has been revised to ₹7,000cr
Other engineering projects on the stretch: Three lane service road; railway overbridge, 10 underpasses and four interchange junctions at Shiv Murti, SPR, Dwarka and Sector 84/88 road in Manesar.
Source – HT
