NCR expressway project to get nod soon

Aiming to reduce traffic congestion in the national capital region due to heavy vehicles, the Union Cabinet is likely to approve next week the much-delayed eastern peripheral expressway (EPE) project, to be implemented at a cost of Rs 5,800 crore. The 135-km stretch will connect Kundli and Palwal bypassing Delhi.

A highly-placed road ministry official said that the Cabinet note for the project, which as per a Supreme Court directive needs to be completed by July 2018, has already been floated and once the nod of the Cabinet committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is received, request for proposal (RFP) would be invited to build the project. The project has to be built within 30 months from its award.
The official said that out of the 1,631.42 hectares required for the project, 1,568 acres, amounting to 96% of the requirement, has been acquired. It would likely be built on the EPC model where the Centre would pay the entire amount.

However, the cost of the land acquisition would be shared between Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments in 50:25:25 ratio. The Delhi government, which has already paid half of its share as per the original estimate, however, recently said it is “not in a position to deposit the additional amount as per the revised estimate” of R3,589 crore. The amount includes cost of land acquisition for western peripheral expressway (WPE) also.

The entire EPE project would be executed through six packages in order to hasten projects, with the average length of each package around 21-22.5 kms. Around 167 concessionaires had shown interest in the request for qualification (RFQ) for the project.

The stretch will also have five flyovers and 144 underpasses. It would connect portions of National Highway (NH) 1, NH 24 and NH 58. The proposed expressway will also be connected to the Yamuna Expressway between Delhi and Agra.

The EPE project was among the four projects cleared by the Cabinet in July 2013 for PPP ventures. Though some developers had initially showed interest, later they developed cold feet. After many attempts failed, the government decided to take up the project on the EPC mode.