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Akshardham to Baghpat stretch of Delhi-Dehradun highway gets financial approval
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Saturday that they received the financial approval of about ₹3,200 crore for the two packages under the National
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said on Saturday that they received the financial approval of about ₹3,200 crore for the two packages under the National Highway-709B stretch which will connect Akshardham in Delhi to Dehradun in Uttarakhand. Officials said that with this development, bids for the civil construction work, which are pending, are being accepted, the last date for which is September 30.
The project is proposed as a new highway which will serve as an alternate between Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and is likely to shorten the travelling distance by about 70km. As of now, commuters travelling to Dehradun from Delhi take an old route which is about 250km, navigating through Ghaziabad (Delhi Meerut Road) as well as congested stretches of Meerut, Muzffarnagar, Roorkee and Haridwar.
According to NHAI, the new route will span about 180km and its first phase, which will be about 32km. The first phase will start from Akshardham in Delhi to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) interchange at Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh. They added that in-principle approvals were given for the project in March.
“We have now received financial approval for the first stretch – from Akshardham to EPE interchange at Baghpat. This comprises two packages – package 1 from Akshardham to Khekra (14.75km) in Baghpat and package 2 from Khekra to EPE interchange (16.45km) in Baghpat. The approval for package 1 is for ₹1,300 crore while that for package 2 is ₹1,900 crore,” said Mudit Garg, project director of NHAI.
Under the project, the stretch in Delhi will have a six kilometre elevated section while about 12.5km of another elevated section will be under the jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
They added that the financial approval came through last week by the NHAI board, which comprises officials of NHAI as well as that from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as members.
“With the financial approval now given, bids for civil construction work which were pending can now be submitted by September 30. Once work starts, we will be able to complete the project (phase 1) by the end of 2022. The other part from Baghpat to Dehradun is under stage of preparation of the detailed project report and tenders are likely to be called in next six months,” Garg added.
Officials added that once the entire highway from Delhi to Dehradun gets complete, commuters will be able to cover the distance within a mere two-and-a-half hours, which otherwise takes about five and half hours.
According to official estimates, the Baghpat to Dehradun stretch is pegged at a cost of ₹4,830 crore and is estimated to get completed in a span of three to five years.
