Haryana section of Delhi-mumbai e-way reaches finish line, Gujarat hits speed bump
Work on highway divided into 31 packages, of which work is yet to start on packages 6 through 13
Union Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari has set a March 2023 target for the ambitious Delhi-mumbai Expressway (e-way) project, with 8090 per cent of the construction work on the Haryana portion of the highway complete. The challenge, however, lies in the Gujarat section of the e-way, where on several 'packages' (or stretches), construction work has hit a bump in the road.
Work on the highway has been divided into 31 packages, of which work is yet to commence on packages six through 13, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. These packages are stretches built by contractors. The contractors engaged in the execution of these packages are GR Infraprojects, IRB Infrastructure Developers, Roadway Solutions India Infra, and RKC Infrabuilt.
Besides the stretches in Gujarat, a spur route (or a shorter route) in the Delhi section of the e-way is yet to see traction. Of the four spurs, construction is yet to begin on one of them, while work on the other two is sluggish. The fourth spur that connects the proposed Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh to the e-way is yet to be awarded. The minister, however, said on Thursday that the project would be awarded in a few months.
Gadkari also reviewed the progress of the e-way, which is expected to halve the travel time between the national Capital and the financial hub from 24 hours to 12 hours.
Besides reduction in travel time, the highway will also decongest traffic and address air pollution head-on. It is estimated to generate annual fuel savings of more than 320 million litres and reduce carbon emissions by 850 million kilos, which is equivalent to the planting of 40 million trees, said an official statement.
The project is being executed by wholly-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the National Highways Authority of India called DME Development. The SPV is raising debt for the construction activity.
The eight-lane e-way will start from Delhi and traverse Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), and Gujarat before entering Maharashtra en route to Mumbai.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh were also present at the event. The e-way is part of the first phase of the Bharatmala Pariyojana and is being developed at an outlay of ~98,000 crore. At 1,380-kilometre length, it will be the longest e-way in India. The e-way will connect the urban centres of Delhi through the Delhi-faridabad-sohna section of the corridor, along with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port through a spur in Mumbai.
The e-way, which passes through six states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, MP, Gujarat, and Maharashtra will improve connectivity to the economic hubs like Jaipur, Kishangarh, Ajmer, Kota, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhopal, Ujjain, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat.