Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressway... Safal
Safal Suri
Also known as Western Peripheral Expressway, KMP would be India’s longest access-controlled and signal-free expressway. Together with the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, it will form a third 270-km Ring Road around Delhi. The 50-km Manesar-Palwal stretch of the 135-km KMP Expressway would be thrown open for commuters by November-end. However, the complete stretch from Kundli (Sonepat) to Palwal would be ready only by next April/May, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told HT.
Explaining the failure to meet the project’s July 2009 deadline, Hooda said, “The delay has been primarily because of the procedural delays in clearance of the railway over bridges’ (ROBs) drawings and release of the finances by financial institutions to the concessionaire company, KMP Expressway Limited (KMPEL). Work on the project is on the fast track and the first phase of it would be ready by November-end.”
The 50-km stretch would connect National Highway 8 (NH 8) near Manesar in Gurgaon and NH 2 near Palwal. The Sohna-Bhiwari Highway (NH-71B) would also intersect this stretch through Tauro in Mewat, 35 km from Palwal. “Since the 50-km stretch between Gurgaon and Palwal has no ROBs or interchanges that are going to take longer time, we would have this stretch ready by November-end,” said KMPEL chairman HS Kohli. However, the non-stop drive on this expressway would come with a steep price tag.
Unlike Gurgaon Expressway, where motorists pay toll when they cross toll plazas, toll on the Expressway would be collected according to the distance travelled. There would be three interchanges and 10 toll plazas on the entire 135-km long expressway. The toll rates based on the wholesale price index have been decided. Cars, vans and jeeps would be charged 75 paise per km, light commercial vehicles Rs 1.25 per km, trucks and buses Rs 2.60 per km and multi- axle vehicles Rs 4.15 per km.
Reliance Infrastructure (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) was the sole bidder for this Rs 2600-crore-plus project when financial bids were opened last December. “The Ministry for Road Transport and Highways is yet to decide whether to award the contract to the single bidder or call fresh bids for the project,” a senior National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official told Hindustan Times. It was in March 2004 that the Supreme Court had appointed NHAI as the nodal agency for construction of two expressways around Delhi, to check non-Delhi-bound trucks from passing through the Capital.
While the Western Peripheral Expressway (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) is ready, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway is caught in controversies. Initially, NHAI had problems with land acquisition work and later the bidding process took unusually long. “The land acquisition process is almost complete. We have acquired over 95 per cent of the 1,860-hectare land required for this project. There will be no delay once the concessionaire is finalised,” the NHAI official said. Construction of this 135-km expressway would require an investment of Rs 2,676 crore.
The project includes construction of an access-controlled six-lane expressway between Faridabad and Sonepat via Noida and Ghaziabad. There will be four major bridges (two on the Yamuna and one each on the Hindon and the Agra Canal) and 55 other bridges. The project is expected to reduce traffic in Delhi by keeping away vehicles not destined for Delhi.