When contacted, H.R. Raheja, chief engineer HSIIDC, however, told the Hindustan Times the pace of work on the expressway had indeed slowed.

"The financial institutions who were to lend money for the project were looking worried and not releasing money But now af .

ter the High Court dismissed the stay petition on March 28, work is going on in full swing again," he said.

When asked whether the project would meet its 2009 deadline, Raheja expressed reservations and said his department was assessing how much the project was affected following the court dispute. He said, "At this stage I cannot say whether the project would be completed in time as we are busy assessing the pace of work."

KMP is the biggest BoT (BuildOperate-Transfer) expressway project of the country that was planned to decongest Delhi from long-route traffic.

KMPEL chairman H.S. Kohli claimed work on the project was on in full swing even when the matter was pending in court.

Presently, more than 1,200 personnel are working on the proj ect and equipment in excess of Rs 200 crore has been deployed on the site. "More than Rs 400 crore has already been invested by us. In all, 3,354 acres has been acquired by HSIIDC and has been handed over to KMPEL. Approximately 75 per cent of earthwork is in progress," Kohli said, adding that work on 20 per cent of major structures such as grade separators, rail over bridges and irrigation structures was already in progress.

He claimed construction of 60 per cent of small structures mainly provided for safe passage of villagers such as single span underpass, agricultural vehicle underpass, cattle and pedestrian crossing was also on in full swing and nearly 70 per cent of pipe culverts for cross drainage works was also complete.