Entire KMP Expressway set to open for traffic

Pradeep Sharma

After years of delay and missing several deadlines, the entire 135-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, which is intended to ease congestion by bypassing Delhi on its western border, will now be open for traffic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 82-km Kundli-Manesar section of the green and smart expressway at a function at Sultanpur village in Gurugram district on November 19.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had last year formally inaugurated the 53-km Manesar-Palwal section of the expressway, which was opened to traffic in 2016.

Haryana PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh says besides inaugurating the KMP Expressway (Western Peripheral Expressway), Modi will also lay the foundation stone of the two phases of the Dwarka Expressway and over 10 other projects.

“The project is 98 per cent complete and only minor works such as cleaning and putting up boards are left, which will be completed soon. The 135-km high-speed expressway will now have six lanes instead of four lanes planned earlier,” he says.

“On the completion of the KMP Expressway, vehicles going from northern India to western and southern parts of the country will not have to pass through Delhi. The expressway will also considerably reduce the travel time from Delhi to Kundli, Manesar and Palwal towns,” says Rao.

The expressway, which was conceived in 2002 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, was originally to be completed in July 2009. However, on account of litigation and various controversies, the project continued to hang fire during the 10-year rule of the previous Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The incumbent BJP government put the project on the fast-track by resolving the legal issues. The two expressways — Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (Eastern Peripheral Expressway) and the KMP (Western Peripheral Expressway) — were supposed to be the first smart and green highways in India.

The 53-km Manesar- Palwal stretch of the 135-km expressway, completed at a cost of Rs 457.81 crore, was opened to traffic in April 2016. The 135-km expressway passes through Gurugram, Palwal, Nuh and Sonepat districts. It passes through the National Highway-1 in Sonepat, National Highway-10 in Jhajjar, National Highway-48 in Gurugram and the National Highway-2 in Palwal district. It has eight small and six large bridges, four railway over-bridges and 34 underpasses and 64 pedestrian crossings.

The state government has sent a proposal to the Central Government for naming the KMP Expressway, Global City in Gurugram and the airport in Hisar after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

About the project 

• The KMP Expressway will now have six lanes (earlier four lanes were planned).
• The project cost pegged at Rs 1,863 crore.
• The Palwal-Manesar section of the KMP Expressway costing Rs 457.81 crore was thrown open to public in 2016.
• The expressway has eight small and six large bridges, four railway over-bridges, 34 underpasses and 64 pedestrian crossings.
• The expressway was conceived in 2002 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister. 
• It was originally slated to be completed in 2009.

Toll plaza to be shifted

The Kherki Daula toll plaza in Gurugram district will be shifted to Panchagoan village in March 2019. It is aimed at providing seamless connectivity to the KMP Expressway, says Rao Narbir Singh.