Nitin Gadkari Reviews the Progress of Six Laning of Delhi - Jaipur National Highway Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari inspected the progress of six laning of Delhi-Jaipur National Highway, NH 8. He was accompanied by Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore. A media team including both print and electronic media journalists accompanied the ministers on the visit. The ministers and the team went by road from Delhi to Kotputli located on the NH 8. Shri Gadkari addressed the press from both Delhi and Rajasthan at Kotputli where he was joined by Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje. MoS Information & Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore and Rajasthan Minister of PWD and Transport Yunus Khan were present during media interaction. Shri Gadkari said that barring 3 structures, the 6 laning of Delhi Jaipur highway will be completed by Dec, 2015. While elaborating on the steps taken in this regard Shri Gadkari said 57 structures were taken up for faster construction on NH 8. Out of these structures, 50 have been completed and opened to traffic while balance 7 are under construction; of these 7 structures, 4 structures including flyover at Dharuheda will be completed by Dec 2015 and 3 structures will be completed by March 2016 The Minister added that the travel time from Gurgaon to Jaipur has been reduced from approximately 8 hours to four and half hours now, which will be further reduced to three and half hour in March 2016. Earlier Col. Rathore told the media persons that the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway is not only for commuters travelling between the two cities, but also for the people who reside along NH-8 who have to cross from one side to other for which construction of underpasses are important. He also said that bye-passes will help avoid fatal accidents at U-turns. Steps taken to reduce travel time between Delhi and Jaipur are enumerated below: Toll plaza near Delhi/Harayana border closed to decongest unmanageable traffic and facilitating smooth traffic flow. Construction of a flyover near Hero Honda chowk commenced which will provide relief to road users. Construction of 6 Laning of Gurgaon - Kotputli - Jaipur section of NH -8 having a length of 225.200 Km (64 km Length in Haryana & 161 km in Rajasthan) was put on fast track. The Project work of 6 laning of Gurgaon Kotputali- Jaipur section was started on 3rd April 2009 with scheduled completion period of two and half year. However, the project could not be completed in time owing to delay in land acquisition, forest clearance, encroachment removal etc. Several flyover/structures work remained unfinished due to the delay in pre-construction activities causing great inconvenience to road users while travelling on numerous diversions. At one point of time travel time between Delhi to Jaipur increased to 8 to 10 hours . Total additional land required to be acquired was 413 Ha. Out of this only 238 ha (58%) land could be acquired by 2013-14 i.e. after 5 years of commencement. With the coordination efforts of the Government/NHAI with State Governments, 33% land was acquired during last one and half year. This has facilitated faster completion of unfinished flyover works and completion of 42 km length six lane during the period. Due to non availability of ROW, relocation of religious structures, forest clearance, financial crunch of the concessionaire etc., a Supplementary Agreement was signed whereby 17 structures delinked to be taken up later on when land is made available and at grade six lane completed at these locations facilitating smooth traffic flow. 57 structures were taken up for faster construction. Out of 57 structures, 50 structures were completed and opened to traffic. Balance 7 structures are under construction. Out of these 7 structures, 4 structures including flyover at Dharuheda will be completed by Dec 2015 and 3 structures will be completed by March 2016 Travel time from Gurgaon to Jaipur has been reduced from approximately 8 hours to four and half hours now which will be further reduced to three and half hour in March 2016. For early completion, the project was closely monitored and several review meetings took place at all levels including at the level of Honble Minister of Road Transport & Highways. To remove the hindrances and bottlenecks delaying the project, the project was also reviewed by PMO in July 2015 and Sept 2015. Honble Minister (RTH &S) frequently reviewed the project. A detailed review was taken in Sept 2015 with top officials of 14 Lender Banks whereby several important decisions were taken to complete the substantially by Dec 2015. FUTURE PLANS To decongest ever increasing traffic on urban locations, the Feasibility study for providing bypasses to six major towns i.e. Manesar (14.4 km; 273 cr), Dharuheda (13.4 km; 192 cr), Behror (7.5 km; 122 cr), Kotputli (10.4 km; 176 cr), Paota (4.4 km; 70 cr) and Shahpura (8.3 km;139 cr ) were also completed. These bypasses are under active consideration. Feasibility study was also carried out to provide a green field expressway from Delhi to Jaipur for a length of 261 km. The alignment taking off in North-West direction from km 20 of NH-8 (existing Delhi-Jaipur National Highway) (South of New Delhi, Indira Gandhi International Airport) near Shiv Murthy and ending at km 242 NH-8 on Jaipur bypass near Daulatpura was also finalized. Total cost of this Expressway is about Rs.32,800 Crore including approximately Rs.18000 crore for Land Acquisition of 2800 ha land. This is currently under discussion stage.
