Government to develop four stretches as expressways

The government has identified four stretches that will be developed as expressways as part of phase VI of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP).

Under the programme, the government plans 1,000 km expressways by 2012. The stretches are Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Meerut, Chennai-Bangalore and Kolkata-Dhanbad.

The officials of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) say the technical feasibility of the plan is being studied and the aim is to wrap up the preliminary work as soon as possible.

Sources say, with the Prime Minister's Office taking a lot of interest in developing expressways, the work may not be delayed, as was the case with the Golden Quadrilateral project.

The government's keenness to have more expressways can be gauged from the fact that it wants to include development of 5,000-km expressways in the 12th Five-Year Plan document, which is under preparation.

There are only two expressways in the country, one between Mumbai and Pune and the other between Baroda and Ahmedabad. Under phase VI of the NHDP, the 95-km Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway would be extended by another 400 km up to Mumbai.

Expressways have different physical parameters compared with highways, including fencing on both sides, different road levels and underpasses. Keeping this in mind, the government is considering a proposal to have a separate legislation for expressways.

Consultations are on between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and the Planning Commission on whether a separate legislation is needed for the development of expressways.

The government is also considering a proposal for carving out a separate corporate entity out of the NHAI which will be in charge of developing expressways.