Land acquisition, encroachments delay third ring road around city

DELAYED The stretch is being built to ease traffic on city’s ring roads, of the 79km stretch, land is yet to be acquired for 35 km

The wait for a third ring road in Delhi, which would have eased traffic on major arterial roads including the existing ring road and outer ring road, will get longer due to problems in land acquisition on five major stretches and numerous encroachments.

The 79-km semi-circular stretch or the urban extension road 2 (UER 2), which the DDA has projected as the third ring road, is being built to provide a direct link to NH-10 (towards Rohtak) and NH-8 (towards Gurgaon) for vehicles entering the city from Karnal.

The third ring road, starting from NH-1 near Narela and passing through NH 10 near Rohini and Dwarka, will end at NH 8. It also bypasses Najafgarh and connects Dwarka and NH-8.

A senior DDA official said that while the construction is complete on the 20-kilometre stretch, land for 35 kilometres is yet to be acquired.

“In the remaining 24 kilometres, DDA has acquired the land but is yet to build underpasses, flyovers and tunnels, which will start after acquisition for other stretches is over. There is also encroachment in some portions on these lands,” he added.

The project, which is a part of three urban extension roads proposed in the Master Plan of Delhi-2021, was to be completed in 2020 is likely to be delayed now, sources said.

There are five major stretches where land has not been acquired. This includes around 10-km stretch from Khanjawla to NH 10 near Mundka, two-kilometre stretch from Najafgarh to Dichaon Kalan village in outer Delhi, a kilometre stretch near Shyam Vihar and near Bhagya Vihar in Mubarakpur Dabas and also, around 10-km stretch from Lok Nayak Puram to Najafgarh Drain, a source said.

The estimated cost of the project cost is ₹3,000 crore but is likely to escalate due to the delay, he added.

A senior official of DDA said that the land owning agency will now transfer the project to National Highway Authority of India as the agency is better equipped to handle the problem and have better expertise in handling such big road projects.

He said that the department had written to the revenue department of Delhi government for speeding up the process but since the process could not be expedited, the DDA has taken the decision to transfer the land.

THE ROAD WILL PROVIDE A DIRECT LINK TO NH10 (TOWARDS ROHTAK) AND NH8 (TOWARDS GGN) FOR VEHICLES ENTERING THE CITY FROM KARNAL