The Rs 5,763-crore Eastern Peripheral Expressway project to decongest Delhi, is on a fast-track to completion in about 400 days, to become India’s first 135-km green road to be lit entirely by solar panels and have an advanced traffic system. On completion, the greenfield project will divert around 2 lakh vehicles passing through the national capital daily to this bypass, curtailing pollution. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman, Raghav Chandra, who inspected the project sites in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, expressed hope that the project will be completed much ahead of the Supreme Court deadline of July 2018.
“We hope to complete the project in about 400 days. Apart from being access-controlled, this Expressway will have the best automatic traffic management system, landscaping, wayside amenities, etc. This is going to be a boon for Delhi. This will set the pace and the path for many such expressway projects across the country,” Chandra said. Eastern Peripheral Expressway project, which hit several roadblocks, saw the laying of its foundation by prime minster Narendra Modi in November 2015. The project, which commenced in May 2016, will consume a million tonnes of flyash from NTPC’s various thermal plants to utilise waste and minimise pollution. Eastern Peripheral Expressway route The Expressway passes through Sonepat, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Faridabad and Palwal in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The proposed alignment crosses the Yamuna river at Khurrampur/Khata in UP and Faizpur Khadar in Haryana and crosses the river Hindon.
See also: NH 24: Wider highway set to unlock real estate potential in the NCR “There are a total of 390 structures in this project, out of which two major bridges are on river Yamuna and one major bridge on river Hindon and Agra Canal. There are eight interchanges, four flyovers, 71 vehicle underpasses, six road-over-bridges, etc. The work has been started on 209 structures including all the four major bridges. There is substantial progress on these,” the NHAI chief said. The project work has been divided into six packages a 21-km stretch in Sonepat-Baghpat, a 24.5-km stretch in Baghpat-Ghaziabad, a 24.5-km stretch in Ghaziabad-GB Nagar, a 22-km stretch in GN Nagar, a 21-km stretch in GN Nagar-Faridabad and a 22-km stretch in Faridabad-Palwal. Work on the project is being executed by Gayatri Projects, Oriental Structural, Sadbhav Engineering, Jaiprakash Associates and Ashoka Buildcon. Watering for the project, will be carried out through drip irrigation to save water, Chandra said, adding that “The entire lighting on the expressway shall be with solar power. There will also be an advanced electronic toll system, where the user will have to pay for the distance travelled by him on the Expressway.”
Source:Housing.com
