After 9-yr delay, KMP eway to be completed by August

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 23

More than nine years after it was supposed to be completed, the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, the 136-km green and smart expressway intended to bypass Delhi on its western border, is set to be completed by August-end.

“Work on the expressway is in the final stage and set to be completed by August-end. Efforts are being made to complete the expressway by August 15,” said Public Works Minister Rao Narbir Singh on Monday.

The original deadline for the 136-km KMP Expressway was July 2009, but the project continued to hang fire in the wake of controversies and litigation. It was only when the BJP came to power in Haryana in 2014 that litigation came to an end and work was put on the fast track.

Work on the 83-km section of the Kundli-Manesar section was being executed at a cost of Rs1,863 crore. The 53-km Palwal-Manesar stretch was opened to traffic in April 2016. The Palwal-Manesar stretch was completed at a cost of Rs457.81 crore.

The two expressways — the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (Eastern Peripheral Expressway) and the KMP (Western Peripheral Expressway) — were dubbed as the first smart and green highways in India.

These highways had intelligent highway traffic management system, video incident detection system, solar panel electrification and faster electronic toll collection system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the KGP Expressway on May 27.

The KGP Expressway bypasses Delhi on the eastern side, while the KMP Expressway outlines its western border. The entire peripheral project will form a ring road around Delhi with a length of 270 km.

Officials said the expressway project was expected to help ease traffic flow, especially of heavy vehicles, through the national capital. It would pass through five districts in Haryana — Sonepat, Jhajjar, Gurugram, Nuh and Palwal.

Once opened to traffic, the KMP Expressway would connect four major national highways — NH-1 (Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar), NH-2 (Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Dankuni), NH-8 (Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai) and NH-10 (Delhi-Hisar-Fazilka-Indo-Pak border).

July 2009:  The original deadline for 136-km KMP Expressway 

Once opened to traffic, the KMP Expressway will connect four major national highways 

• Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar NH-1 
• Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Dankuni NH-2
• Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai NH-8 
• Delhi-Hisar-Fazilka-Indo-Pak border NH-10