New Delhi: finally, with BJP in power, both in Delhi and in the center, the government of the Union is accelerating action in large decongestion projects in the national capital. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will build the raised corridor between INA and Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj, a project that was conceived more than four years ago to decongest the ring of Ring.
The sources said the project would be funded by the Ministry of Delhi Government and Urban Affairs, and the modalities will be prepared soon. The NHAI will build a tunnel between Nelson Mandela Marg to the exchange of Shiv Murti, which will provide perfect connectivity to Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). The corridor will mean that traffic from East and South Delhi can travel without stopping to the airport.
The proposed elevated corridor (14 km) that passed through the residential and commercial complexes of the recently rebuilt government along the ring road was clear by the Traffic and Unified Transport Infrastructure Center (Planning and Engineering) (UTTIPEC) in July 2021.
According to the previous proposal, the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had the task of preparing the detailed report of the project (DPR) and executing it. But the project never obtained the approval of the Public Investment Board, a mandatory process before any proposal is placed before the Cabinet for its wink.
The sources said that the issues related to the decongestion of the roads in Delhi were discussed in a meeting in the PMO earlier this month, where the main officials of the Ministry of Transportation and Highters suggested that NHAI could build the project considering their experience in the execution of such important road projects.
After the meeting in PMO, Secretary of Transportation of the Union road, V Umashankar held a meeting attended by NHAI officials, Delhi and National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), the agency that reconstructs the residential and commercial complexes of the government.
The sources told Toi that the NHAI will prepare the DPR and base it on the preparation by CPWD. “According to the previous estimate, the project would have cost around 4,500 million rupees. The project can have some tunnel components considering the soil situation. We will reach a cost after the final DPR. The government takes seriously the acceleration of the project, which has been stuck for at least four years, ”said a senior official.
Some estimates of Delhi PWD suggest that around 1.3 Lakh of vehicles pass through the Aiim that cross every day, and almost 3.3 vehicles are between the steps of Bhikaji Cama and Lajpat Nagar of the newspapers. The authorities said that more delay in taking the project would cause more crises, since traffic in this section remains blocked in most of the day.
The increase in traffic is imminent as more governmental employees change to the residential complex of Sarojini Nagar recently rebuilt and the commercial complex of Nauroji Nagar.
The sources said that the NHAI will also explore the possibility of building a raised road from Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj to the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road.
