Union Minister Nitin Gadkari surveys the progress, says project will be completed by August

Over 60% of the work on the 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway, being constructed from Kundli to Palwal, has been completed, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.

Efforts are on to complete it by August, the Minister said, adding that work on the Palwal-Manesar section of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal project has been completed.

He added that this was the first access-controlled expressway, being constructed at a cost of ₹4,418 crore.

After making an aerial survey of the progress on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway near Jahllaka village in Haryana, Mr. Gadkari said the project would help reduce vehicle pressure by up to 50% in Delhi, besides reducing pollution.

Mutual transit

After its completion, vehicles wouldn’t have to enter Delhi for mutual transit to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir, Mr. Gadkari said, lauding the efforts of the Haryana government in completing the work in its territory.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation of the expressway in November 2015.

Western expressway

Like Eastern Peripheral Expressway, work on construction of Western Peripheral Expressway in the State is also being carried out by the Haryana government, Mr. Gadkari said.

Apart from smooth traffic movement in the area, Mr. Gadkari said new possibilities for development of industrial and business sectors would be generated with the construction of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway would pass through Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar and Faridabad. Many modern facilities, including highway traffic management system, electronic signage, video incident detection system, warning devices, over speed checking system and fire optic network are being used in the project.

Of 330 structures, 222, including bridges, interchanges and over-bridges, have also been completed, the Minister said.

Other structures

In addition to construction of main bridges on the Yamuna, Hindon and Agra Canal, eight railway over-bridges, four over-bridges, 45 small bridges, 77 underpasses and 152 pedestrian underpasses are also part of the project, he added.