“The Expressways were conceived to provide a bypass road for the vehicles using the city as <g data-gr-id="42">transit</g> route. This will reduce <g data-gr-id="41">pollution</g> level in the city besides helping to decongest traffic particularly caused by trucks in the night hours,” said a senior government officer of Delhi.
It is pertinent to mention that the two Expressways, running through Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are running years behind schedule.
“Delhi government has already paid its share to Central government and several requests have been already sent to expedite the work,” he added.
He, however, added that Gadkari has assured Jain to take up the project on priority basis. The two Expressways, each about 135 kilometer long, were planned in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to construct a Ring Road outside Delhi for channelling non-Delhi bound traffic bypass the national Capital.
As per the plan the three concerned states — Delhi, UP and Haryana were to share the cost of construction in the ratio of 50:25:25 respectively.
The original cost of the project was Rs 844 crores, which has escalated to Rs 3589 crores after four revisions. Initially, Delhi’s share was Rs 422 crores and Delhi paid its share up to the first revision of cost Rs 653.50 crores.
It is <g data-gr-id="47">fact</g> that <g data-gr-id="48">delay</g> in execution of these projects <g data-gr-id="46">are</g> soaring the cost due to inflation. “This is despite the regular monitoring of the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister Office on <g data-gr-id="44">regular</g> basis,” added the officer. In his letter, Jain urged that the Delhi government has very limited sources of revenue to meet the <g data-gr-id="43">continues</g> escalation in the cost of the project. The Eastern Peripheral Express or known as KGP (Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal) is a proposed road, which will bypass Delhi on the eastern side. This arch is set to take off from East Delhi and <g data-gr-id="45">form</g> the first half of the Ring Road around the national Capital.
According to experts, the project will also prove to be a catalyst in both residential and commercial development along the 135 km corridor, <g data-gr-id="32">majority</g> in Uttar Pradesh.
The Western half of this bypass linking Kundli-Faridabad via Express highway (NH)-10 and NH-8 was designed as Eastern Peripheral Expressway. The construction of twin Expressways are totalling 270 km was initiated as per a Supreme Court ruling to get Delhi rid of <g data-gr-id="35">unwanted</g> traffic.