In a bid to reduce travel time between Delhi and Mumbai, the Union Government is planning to construct a dedicated expressway between the two metros. The ministry of road transport and highways has said that the new expressway would be built at a cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has also reportedly spoken about plans to build Chambal expressway that would be connected to the Delhi-Mumbai expressway.
“A sum of Rs 1 lakh crore will be spent on this expressway … Nitin Gadkari outlined major initiatives of his ministry for de-congestion of Delhi NCR. A total of ten projects are underway costing Rs 35,600 crore,” the ministry of road transport and highways said.
An ambitious scheme of developing Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways around Delhi was taken up, and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29.
About 40,000 commercial vehicles enter Delhi on a daily basis, which causes pollution and congestion in the city-state, Gadkari, who is also holding the portfolio of water resources and Ganga rejuvenation, said.
Similarly, to ease traffic in East Delhi, Delhi-Meerut Expressway was envisaged, and its Delhi-Dasna portion will also be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on the same day by a roadshow. Gadkari said work on the signal-free corridor from Dhaula Kuan to Airport has been awarded at a cost of Rs 260 crore.
He said, eight-lane fully access-controlled Dwarka Expressway is being developed in four packages. While three packages have already been awarded, the work on the expressway is likely to start in a month’s time. Total investment in the project is Rs 9,500 crore.
