Gurgaon: The longest flyover in NCR will come up on the
Dwarka expressway, a 9km stretch from the Delhi-Haryana border to the Basai
railway overbridge in Gurgaon.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) this week
invited tenders to build this elevated, 8-lane corridor, which will come up
over the 6-lane main expressway that is still under construction. The flyover is
part of an upgrade plan that the NHAI is rolling out across the entire 28km
span of the road. Around 80% of the road will either comprise flyovers or
underpasses. "Out of the 28km stretch, around 23 km would be
access-controlled expressway," said Udeep Singhal, NHAI project director
for Dwarka expressway. He said the existing surface road would primarily be
used as a service lane and for local transport.
Envisioned as the fourth link between Delhi and Gurgaon —
after MG Road, NH8 and the old Delhi-Gurgaon road —Dwarka expressway originates
at Shiv Murti in Delhi and ends at Kherki Daula in Gurgaon, near the toll plaza
on NH8. But the road is running years behind schedule, though thousands of new
apartments have been built there and sold. Homebuyers have not been able to
move into the flats because the road is incomplete.
But Dwarka expressway is expected to witness heavy traffic
when it opens, more so because Gurgaon's new sectors have been built on either
side of it, and the flyovers and underpasses are necessary to avoid gridlocks
like the ones that NH8 currently witnesses. The exercise to build flyovers and
underpasses and turn the road into an access-controlled ones will be carried
out in four phases, according to the NHAI.
Phase 1 (6.5km) from Shiv Murti to Bharthal Chowk and Phase 2
(3.4km) from Bharthal Chowk to the Delhi-Haryana border are in Delhi. Phase 3
(10.2km) from the Delhi-Haryana border to Basai railway overbridge and Phase 4
(7.9km) from Basai railway overbridge to Kherki Daula are in Gurgaon. The
tender given out this week, on September 19, is for Phase 3.
Work on remaining three phases will start later. In Phase 1,
NHAI is in talks with the Airports Authority of India, land acquisition in
Phase 2 is at an advanced stage and Phase 4 has still to overcome some
litigation.
Dwarka expressway was originally planned as six-lane
expressway between Delhi and Gurgaon and it was expected to be completed before
the Commonwealth Games in 2010 but was derailed by numerous lawsuits. In March
2016, the Haryana government requested the Centre to declare the road a
national highway. NHAI took charge after that.
People who had invested in the area are still keeping their
fingers crossed. "We welcome the NHAI move. But NHAI has invited tenders
for only one of four phases and we hope authorities will clear the obstacles
coming in the way of the project," said Sudesh Sharma, who has invested in
a residential property in Sector 103.
