Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) to hand over a 75-metre-wide corridor to the Union ministry of road transport and highways, for the latter to develop an elevated Metro on the corridor.
This is against the ministry’s demand for a 90-metre-wide corridor, for two contiguous projects – increase the width of the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) also known as Dwarka Expressway, and develop a proposed metro route over it.
During the Happening Haryana summit in Gurgaon in March, Union Roadways Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced granting of National Highway status to the NPR, after a request by the chief minister. With that, it became imperative that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will take over the project from Huda.
In a recent meeting with state government to discuss the handover of NPR to NHAI, the ministry had made the demand for the 90-metre-wide corridor, to increase the width of the road and add a few extra lanes. At present, the 8-lane NPR is 75m wide in Gurgaon.
“Beyond the 75 metres already used up by the NPR, are lines for essential services like sewerage, drainage and water. Shifting all these services would be very difficult and cost intensive, so we can’t give any more land,” said Huda administrator Yashpal Yadav.
The ministry had expressed its reservation about developing the metro corridor above the NPR, as proposed in the master plan.
An NHAI official said that after taking over from Huda, they will first develop NPR, and if possible, also increase its width
Source – Mirror Now
