GMDA offers 30 acres in Panchgaon for shifting Kherki Daula toll plaza

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on Saturday said that land issues at Panchgaon for shifting the Kherki Daula toll plaza were resolved, barring for one non-critical patch, and offered to transfer 30

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on Saturday said that land issues at Panchgaon for shifting the Kherki Daula toll plaza were resolved, barring for one non-critical patch, and offered to transfer 30.52 acres to the highways authority.

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In a letter to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) headquarters on Saturday, the GMDA offered it the land parcels for construction of a 28-lane toll plaza, which remained stuck for the last couple of years. The GMDA said that disputes have been cleared and barring a small patch, which was non-critical, it was ready to hand over the land.

The transfer of Kherki Daula toll plaza was announced by union transport minister Nitin Gadkari in 2016 — following repeated demands from the Haryana government and local politicians — but on the condition that land would be made available free of cost by the state to the NHAI. Initially, the plan was to shift the toll plaza to Sehrawan near Manesar, but the plan was shelved after opposition from residents and environmentalists.

The letter written to NHAI by Sudhir Rajpal, the chief executive officer of GMDA, states,” This is with reference to NHAI letter number 1733 dated fourth December 2019, providing for 28 lanes toll plaza in land measuring 30.92 Acres at Panchgaon in district Gurugram. The forest clearance for the said land has been obtained from the principal conservator of forest Haryana Panchkula on 31/01/2020. GMDA had already offered 30.92 acres land to NHAI vide letter dated 16/12/2019 for the construction of toll plaza with 28 lanes for which design has been prepared by the consultant of NHAI.”

“However, due to certain court restrictions, the site could not be physically handed over till now. Now, all the encumbrances on the site have been removed except for a non-critical patch of 0.40 acres. The land measuring 30.52 acres is now being offered to the NHAI for the establishment of a toll plaza at Panchgaon. You are requested to issue necessary directions to the local NHAI unit to take over possession of land for establishment of toll plaza at Panchgaon by shifting it from Kherki Daula,” it stated.

The Millennium City Expressway Private Limited (MCEPL), the highway concessionaire that took over the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway in 2014 has a concession agreement to collect toll till 2023.

A senior NHAI official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the local project unit of the NHAI has not received any communication in this regard. “The GMDA must have written to the NHAI headquarters in this matter and the directions in this regard will come from there. We have not received any communication till now,” he said, adding that proposal for takeover of land will be analysed and necessary steps taken once the letter with necessary directions reaches the project implementation unit of Gurugram.

He said that it would take around six months to build a new toll plaza at Panchgaon, depending on the transfer of land and directions from the headquarters.

On March 5, union transport minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the Kherki Daula toll plaza would be shifted by August 15, 2021.