Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway Now Has New Deadline Of Dec 2005; Encroachments, Shifting Of Utilities Main
By Sanjay Sharma, Section Roads in Gurgaon
Posted on Thu Jul 29, 2004 at 02:19:29 AM EST
If you go by the website of National Highways Authority of India (www.nhai.org), the much-awaited Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway would be completed by April 2005. Visit any section of the 27.7-km stretch and talk to the people executing the project to do a reality check. There is no way that this Access Controlled Expressway, linking Dhaula Kuan with Rajiv Chowk, will be ready before December 2005. ‘‘We are trying to keep as tight a schedule as possible,’’ says NHAI’s Chief General Manager SPS Bakshi. ‘‘We had initially hoped to complete it by June 2005. Now, we plan to complete it by December 2005,’’ he adds.
Jaypee DSC Ventures Ltd, the company constructing the Expressway on Build-Operate-Transfer basis, is non-committal. ‘‘We have not come out with any new dates,’’ says senior general manager P Ahluwalia. ‘‘However, considering the kind of problems we have been facing, the project may get delayed.’’
One of the major problems is encroachments.
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‘‘NHAI was supposed to provide us with a clear corridor. However, because of excessive urbanisation of many areas on the route, this condition is not being honoured,’’ says Ahluwalia. ‘‘Certain sections near Mahipalpur, Rangpuri and beyond Rajiv Chowk have not been properly demarcated. When we go there to take physical possession, the land is nowhere to be found,’’ he says. NHAI denies this vehemently. ‘‘We got all the encroachments removed, even the ones made by high-profile people,’’ says Bakshi. Jaypee DSC officials, however, insist that on the 27.7-km long stretch, portions adding upto 6-7 km are still not clear.
Gurgaon’s master sewer line, beginning near the Delhi-Haryana border and running right upto Rajiv Chowk, is another problem. ‘‘Very little work has been done to shift this line so far. NHAI wants us to shift this line by adhering to HUDA rules,’’ complains Ahluwalia. A similar problem is being faced over the shifting of the main water-supply line.
NHAI officials say there are other problems too. ‘‘We have had to deal with underground cables, optical fibre cables and gas pipelines. We had to be extremely careful in shifting them since many defence operations and hotlines were being run on those cables,’’ says Bakshi.
The Rs 555-crore Expressway, with 9.7 km in New Delhi and 18 km in Haryana, will have 11 overpasses and underpasses and four toll tax plazas. It will make driving red-light free on NH-8 and reduce the travel time between Dhaula Kuan and Haldiram’s Resort in Gurgaon from one hour to 20 minutes.
From The Indian Express - July 28, 2004 - by Raghvendra Rao
Another deadline revised, this expressway not in the fast track
