The government is considering a proposal to build an expressway connecting Gurgaon and Jaipur at a cost of Rs 32,800 crore to ease traffic on National Highway-8.
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After reviewing the progress of the Delhi-Jaipur Highway, the minister said about 2,800 hectares will have to be acquired for the new expressway project. The project is likely to cost around Rs 30,000 crore and will cut the travel time between two cities to less than two hours. Interacting with mediapersons at Kotputli after inspecting the site, Mr Gadkari said, barring three structures, the six-laning of Delhi-Jaipur Highway would be completed by December. While offering a bundle of road and highway projects to Rajasthan, the minister said that around 96,000 kilometers of roads are being constructed across India annually and this target would soon be improved to 1.5 lakhs kilometers per year.
The proposed expressway will start from the south of Indira Gandhi worldwide Airport in Delhi and end at Daulatpura on NH 8. “Completion of the Pink City Expressway project, which started in 2008, has been a priority for the ministry”, he said. The highway project was scheduled to be ready in 2011 but it faced several hurdles and issues related with land acquisition, environmental clearance, shifting of utility services, litigation and banking which led to unexpected delays.
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The project was signed by B Gupta, the Principal Secretary of PWD D, Virendra Kaul (from union ministry) and Raghvendra Chandra NHAI Chairman, while the other dignitaries who were present at the function included Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister and Yunus Khan state PWD and Transport Minister. Gadkari also said that government has made a decision to spare 1% of the cost of construction to increase green cover. The government is also building a Rs 4,000-crore mass rapid transport system that connects Manesar to Dhaula Kuan, which falls on the Delhi-Jaipur highway.
