Work on Delhi-Baghpat link to speed up: NHAI

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor (DDEC) on Saturday, officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that developmental works will now expedite at different stretches, including a 32km link from Akshardham in New Delhi to Khekra in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor (DDEC) on Saturday, officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said that developmental works will now expedite at different stretches, including a 32km link from Akshardham in New Delhi to Khekra in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat.

The project is scheduled to be completed within 2.5 years, according to the officials. (Sakib Ali/HT)

The DDEC from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) junction in Baghpat to Dehradun, which is pegged at a cost of ₹8,300 crore, will offer the commuters in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida a better access to the DDEC. The estimated cost of the entire corridor from Delhi to Dehradun is ₹12,000 crore, said the officials.

The DDEC will reduce the time taken to cover the distance between Delhi and Dehradun from six hours to nearly two and half hours, they added.

The NHAI officials said that the work for the 32km stretch along Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, linking the DDEC, has been allotted. The stretch will have six lanes on the elevated section, and three lanes on each side will be on the ground level which will serve as service roads.

“The 32km stretch has two links -- one in Delhi and the other in Uttar Pradesh. Work on both links have been allotted. The work for the second stretch in Ghaziabad’s Loni portion has started, and the work for the Delhi section will also start soon. It is estimated that the stretch is likely to see nearly 50,000 passenger car units (PCUs) per day,” said an officer of NHAI, requesting anonymity.

“We need nearly 15 hectares of land for planting 5,000 trees, as compensatory afforestation there. With the Prime Minister laying the foundation stone of the economic corridor, we are hopeful that the work will now be expedited,” the officer added.

The project is scheduled to be completed within 2.5 years, according to the officials.

Apart from the 32km link in Delhi-NCR, the UP jurisdiction from Baghpat to Saharanpur also has a 119km stretch.

“With the Prime Minister laying the foundation stone of the DDEC, various works including land procurement in different states are likely to be expedited... and the project itself will see a boost. We have nearly 119 kilometres in our jurisdiction -- from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway to Saharanpur -- and most of the works have been awarded, except for works on a 25-km stretch. It is likely that the work will start on a full scale in the coming days,” said SK Mishra, project director, NHAI.

While laying the foundation stone of different projects in Dehradun on Saturday, PM Modi said, “When it (DDEC) is ready, the time taken to travel from Delhi to Dehradun will be almost half of what it is now.”

The DDEC will have seven major interchanges for better connectivity to Haridwar, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Yamuna Nagar, Baghpat, Meerut and Baraut. It will also have the largest wildlife elevated corridor of 12km in Asia, for unrestricted wildlife movement. The 340-metre-long tunnel near Daat Kali temple in Dehradun will also help in reducing any impact on the wildlife there.