To decongest Delhi and the national Capital region, the construction of two mega highways has been approved in a meeting recently held between Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, costing around `10,000 crore.
A new 17-kilometre-long highway connecting Urban Extension Road II (UER 2) to the Delhi-Dehradun expressway near Tronica City has been approved. After completion, this project will reduce traffic load on inner roads, easing pressure on National Highway-48, National Highway-44, Ring Roads and the Barapullah elevated corridor. The estimated construction cost of the project is `3,300 crore.
According to officials, connecting UER 2 to the Delhi-Dehradun, which starts near Akshardham temple, will provide faster connectivity to traffic generated from Haryana and Rajasthan, which is destined to move towards Dehradun. “Currently bids that have been received for hiring a consultant are under evaluation and the work to prepare a detailed project report is likely to be awarded by mid-June this year,” according to a government document.
Originally conceived under the Delhi Master Plan Road 2021, UER-2 was later notified as a national highway to be readied in five construction packages. Spanning 76km — of which 54.21km lies in Delhi and 21.5km in Haryana — the `8,000 crore corridors is being funded by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for its Delhi section and built by NHAI. Another project for the construction of a 65 km long highway from Tronica City connecting to the under-construction Faridabad-Noida-Ghaziabad Expressway, or FNG Expressway, has been approved.
As per the plan, this
highway will connect five major roads -Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, DND-Faridabad Highway and Yamuna Expressway-all
together around NCR.
“The highway will provide connectivity to NCR towns such as Loni, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Noida and Faridabad with North and Southwest Delhi. It will help in decongesting internal roads and city centres like the Sarai Kale Khan section and Kalindi Kunj, providing an alternative for intercity and freight traffic,” the document said.
A tender has been floated for hiring a consultant to prepare a DPR for this project, the estimated cost of construction is `7,500 crore.
“The UER-2 will offer faster connectivity between Chandigarh, Gurugram and IGI Airport. It has also opened up access to previously underserved parts of Delhi such as Najafgarh, Mundka, Karala, Alipur, and Bawana, enhancing links to south Delhi, Noida, Faridabad and major highways like NH-48,” a report from the Union road ministry, shared with the Delhi Government, noted.
“A total of `1.25 lakh crore work decongestion projects has been initiated by the centre in Delhi. The projects will be executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at its own cost with the support of PWD,” CM Rekha Gupta had said after the
high-level meeting.
