PM to visit Gurugram on Nov 19 to inaugurate KMP Expressway

Gurugram: It is official now! Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gurugram on November 19 to inaugurate the Kundali Manesar Palwal (KMP) expressway. He was earlier slated to inaugurate the expressway on November 10 but hectic negotiations by the Haryana government with the PMO led to the change in schedule. He is also expected to lay foundation stone of the Gururgam stretch of Dwarka Expressway.

The Haryana Government had planned for the grand launch of Expressway much earlier, but the busy schedule of the Prime Minister delayed the plans. The expressway has been constructed at a whopping cost of Rs 1,900 crore.

Once functional, it is expected that the route will reduce the pollution of the National Capital by almost 35 percent as all of the trucks that used to earlier enter into Delhi will now be using the six-lane expressway. The KMP expressway is also expected to bring in a big gain for the Haryana Government. In the cabinet meeting that was chaired by the Chief Minister ML Khattar, it was decided that five cities having a total area of 50,000 hectares will be built around the expressway.

It may be noted that 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, five toll plazas will also be set up. For the period of three months, however, there will be no toll plazas. The Haryana Government will begin the process of inviting the tenders of the parties that will charge the minimum fee from the commuters. Also known as Western Expressway, the KMP connects four National Highways, NH-1near Kundali, NH-1 near Kundali, NH-8 near Manesar, NH-10 near Bahadur Garh and NH-2 near Palwal.

There are also going to many firsts that will be experienced in the Western Expressway. To ensure that new construction remains eco-friendly, all lanes will be equipped with solar lighting and rainwater harvesting 500 meters from both sides. It will include chain link fencing to prevent unwanted entry and exit and have metal beam crash barriers to further enhance safety.

Such has been the significance of the project that on several occasions the Chief Minister ML Khattar has himself inspected the progress of the projects. Once completed, the project will be able to meet its deadline of four months in advance. The construction of the project that was started on August 24, 2016, was expected to be completed in

February 2019.