Projects worth Rs 24 000 Cr to be taken up to decongest Delhi CM Rekha Gupta

    New Delhi, Jun 4 (PTI) The Centre is helping in a big way to decongest Delhi and make it a pollution-free city through various infrastructure projects, including a proposed elevated road from INA to the IGI airport, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Wednesday.
    After a meeting with Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Gupta said detailed project reports (DPRs) of projects worth Rs 24,000 crore have been prepared.
    She said feasibility is also being assessed for a tunnel from Sarai Kale Khan to the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.
    Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, Minister of State for Road Transport Harsh Malhotra and Delhi ministers were present at the meeting to review the progress of ongoing National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects in the national capital.
    Gupta said the "double-engine" government is benefitting the people of Delhi a great deal -- a reference to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) being in power at the Centre as well as in the city.
    "NHAI projects worth Rs 35,000 crore are ongoing in Delhi, while projects worth Rs 64,000 crore have been completed," Gupta said, thanking the Centre for the developments.
    The chief minister shared that the NHAI has also approved road overbridge (RoB) and road underbridge (RuB) projects worth Rs 150 crore for the capital.
    "Projects worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore have been carried out for Delhi and I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nitin Gadkari for that," she said.
    Gupta said these projects, including a proposal for an underground, 7-km tunnel from Shivmurti to Nelson Mandela Marg, will help decongest Delhi and reduce pollution.
    She cited various projects, including an elevated road from INA to the airport that will later be connected to Faridabad and Gurugram, the Delhi-Katra-Amritsar highway that will be connected to the UER (Urban Extension Road)-II and an extension of the UER-II from Alipur to Tronica City.
    This will enable vehicles to reach Dehradun from Haryana and Noida without entering Delhi, Gupta said.
    The NHAI has also taken over the development of various roads, including the Delhi-Rohtak road, a road from Punjabi Bagh to Nangloi, the Ashram-Badarpur road and MG Road, and will also make those signal-free. The NHAI will develop a drainage system and service roads along these roads, the chief minister said.
    The NHAI is using inert waste to construct roads in Delhi, she said, adding that it will help clear the garbage mountains in the city.
    According to a statement issued by the Delhi government, the NHAI has prepared DPRs for upcoming projects worth Rs 24,000 crore, which will cover the construction of 128 kilometres of roads.
    Projects worth nearly Rs 35,000 crore are currently being implemented in Delhi. These include the construction of 594 kilometres of roads.
    The statement said the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and its four-lane connector are 92 per cent complete, the UER-II is 95 per cent complete and the Dwarka Expressway is 98 per cent complete.
    The DND Interchange-Kalindi Kunj-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh-Sohna and Jewar Airport Link Road is also 93 per cent complete.
    A total of 1,579 km of roads have already been constructed under the projects worth approximately Rs 64,000 crore, the statement said, including the 135-kilometre-long Eastern Peripheral Expressway at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore and the Dhaula Kuan-Gurugram corridor at a cost of Rs 373 crore.
    The Delhi-Panipat project, around 70 kilometres in length, was completed at a cost of Rs 2,205 crore, while around Rs 3,500 crore were spent on the 32-kilometre stretch from Delhi (Akshardham) to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway junction, which is part of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)