Centre to complete remaining part of Delhi-Meerut expressway by March 2019

The remaining three packages of 82-kilometer long Delhi-Meerut expressway (DME) are expected to be operational by March 2019, officials from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, two senior officials from the Authority said that the target is to complete the construction work by the end of this fiscal year.

“All the three packages should be operational by March next year,” an official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the expressway in May this year. The stretch is 8.716 kilometer long and has 14 lanes.

He held a road show on the stretch before inaugurating the expressway. The road show commenced from the Nizamuddin Bridge in the national capital and lasted about six km on the inaugurated route.

Another official said that the NHAI has decided to complete the fourth stretch in “record time” of 12 months.

Also read: Not quite on track: Deadlines missed on 44 highway projects as Gadkari reviews 'Mission 300'

“We are trying to set another record by completing the last stretch in 12 months against a target of 18 months… The construction started in February this year and we expect to complete it by March next year,” he said.

As of now, the status for various packages is as follows-

The Rs 5,300 crore expressway is being constructed in four phases from Nizamuddin Bridge in south-Delhi to Meerut in Uttar Pradesh to let vehicles from neighbouring states bypass the national capital.

Vehicles from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, not destined for Delhi, shall be able to ply to UP via the 82 kilometer expressway easing traffic situation in the city and reducing pollution. The entire project has six expressways with four highways on each side. The highways could be used for local (state-bound) traffic while traffic directed only towards Meerut will commute via the expressways.

Union minister, Nitin Gadkari, has called the expressway “historic” and believes that the expressway will act as a “lifeline” for the people residing in Delhi.

Also read: Nitin Gadkari asks officials to complete 300 projects by March 2019

“For the first time in the history of NHAI, we are building an expressway of 14 lanes… It will ease traffic congestion and help reduce pollution in Delhi,” he has said.

The expressway will be adorned by vertical gardens along Yamuna, lighting by solar panels, cycle track along the entire length, drip irrigation facility, wayside amenities, access-control traffic management system and approximately 40 vehicular underpasses.

With less than a year to Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Gadkari has launched ‘Mission 300’ for his ministry to complete 300-odd highway projects by March 2019. He preponed the deadline by three months to complete the work before model code of conduct is imposed by the Election Commission of India.

Out of 427 projects of NHAI and 311 projects of the ministry and NHIDCL reviewed by Gadkari, 127 projects by the former and 153 projects by latter are to be completed by March next year. All of them are worth more than Rs 100 crore. Of these, about 100 projects are to be completed within the next six months.