PM Modi inaugurates KMP Expressway
Gurugram: The 83-kilometer Kundali Manesar stretch of the 135-kilometer KMP Expressway was finally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narender Modi on Monday. The project was conceptualised in 1995 and the work began in 2006, which was stopped and restarted in 2014.
A total amount of Rs 6,400 crore was spent in the building of the KMP Expressway, which is expected to reduce the traffic coming towards National Capital and Gurugram by almost 20 per cent. It is estimated that over 50,000 vehicles that used to come to Delhi daily will now be able to use the 135-kilometer stretch.
Built on the public-private partnership model, over 65,000 tonnes of steel and seven lakh tonnes of cement was used for the construction that was undertaken by a team of 200 engineers and 3,000 workers.
In the process, eight minor bridges, six major bridges, 21 vehicular underpasses, and four railway overhead bridges were built on the area for which the land was acquired from over 200 villages.
The KMP will pass through six districts of Haryana namely Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal, Mewat, Sonepat, and Jhajjar.
There are many firsts achieved in implementing the Western Expressway. To ensure that new construction remains eco-friendly, all lanes will be equipped with solar lighting and rainwater harvesting in an area 500 meters on both sides. It will include chain link fencing to prevent unwanted entry and exit and have metal beam crash barriers to further enhance safety.
Emphasizing on the word integrated connectivity, the Prime Minister mentioned that the Western Peripheral Expressway was a major step towards ensuring ease of living as it will allow the services of ease of travel.
In the process, he also said how the delay in the project increased the cost of the project by six-fold. Initially, the entire cost of the project was stated to be Rs 1,200 crore but the cost galloped to Rs 6,400 crore.
The Prime Minister said that the work on this Expressway could have been completed 8-9 years ago but this is the result of the delaying tactics adopted by the previous government that it took 12 years to complete the project.
He reminded that this Expressway was to be used in the Commonwealth Games but ironically the Expressway suffered the same fate as the games. He said that owing to the progress of the project reviewed by him at the central level and urgency shown by the state government, the people of the state got this long-awaited project today. Hoping to cash in big from the KMP Expressway, the Haryana government has already begun the process of inviting tenders for the building of Panchgram, the mega city project that will come around the expressway. In addition to the building of the new cities, there will also be seven toll plazas.
