by THO
Union minister and Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh on Tuesday said that the Gurugram section of the Dwarka expressway is expected to open for the public soon. Singh, who met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari earlier on Tuesday, said that Gadkari had issued directives to NHAI staff to open the completed section of the expressway at the earliest.
“We have asked the highways minister to open the Gurugram stretch so that people don’t suffer due to traffic snarls and congestion and he agreed to the proposal. He has directed NHAI officials to ensure that the stretch is opened by the month-end. The formal inauguration of the project can be done later,” Singh said.
The Gurugram MP said since work on the Gurugram section of the expressway had been completed it should be opened for traffic soon since the Delhi section of the road would still need four to five more months to be wrapped up.
The Dwarka expressway is being constructed at a cost of ₹9,000 crore and is being built in four tranches, while the third and fourth stretch are in Gurugram measuring about 19 km, the first two are in Delhi adding up to another 10 km. The newly-built road begins from Shiv Murti near Mahipalpur on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and it passes through Dwarka Sector 21, the Gurugram border, Basai and ends near Kherki Daula on the national highway.
Earlier, senior NHAI staff had confirmed that the entire work on the Gurugram stretch had been completed while 80 to 90 per cent work on the two tranches of Delhi had also been done.
Construction work on the Dwarka expressway began in 2018 and it was expected to be completed by 2021 but the project deadlines were extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. NHAI has announced that work on the entire project will be completed by August this year.
In January, the Gurugram administration had also said that the Gurugram section of the Dwarka expressway would be opened by the end of February since the state government had taken up the matter with the Union transport ministry and NHAI.
On being asked about the possibility of opening the Dwarka expressway in Gurugram for traffic, Mohd Saifi, regional manager, NHAI, Delhi, who was present at the meeting said that they were conducting the safety audit of the expressway in Gurugram. “As soon as the audit is completed and corrective measures implemented, the road will be opened,” he said.
At the meeting, Singh also took up the issue of construction of an elevated road from Umang Bhardwaj Chowk to Hero Honda Chowk with the transport minister. “The NHAI has descoped this project but I informed the minister that this road was notified as part of the highway in 2017. The GMDA and HSVP have acquired land for its construction and obstacles are being removed,” he said.
The Gurugram MP added that after hearing the facts of the matter and submissions made by GMDA officials, Gadkari instructed NHAI staff to prepare a plan for construction of an elevated road.
Referring to the removal of Kherki Daula toll plaza, Rao told Gadkari that the time for the toll concession had expired and the Haryana government was also ready to provide another place to shift the plaza.
In December last year, the GMDA had offered 38 acres of land to the highway authority for shifting the Kherki Daula toll plaza to Pachgaon. The highway authority has now notified the toll plaza as a public-funded one and has begun collecting toll tax from commuters much to the irritation of residents.
Senior officials from NHAI and GMDA including GMDA’s infrastructure advisor Rakesh Manocha, chief engineer Arun Dhankhar, Chief Engineer Rajesh Bansal, PWD Chief Engineer Pradeep Chaudhary and GMDA executive engineer Vikas Malik were present at the meeting.
