Vinod Behl
The big daddy of the road infrastructure projects is the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway - India's longest expressway at 1386 km length with 8-lanes. This access-controlled e-way is being built at the cost of Rs 1 lakh crore. A crown jewel of the ambitious BharatMala Scheme, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is considered to be a game changer in the Modi government's integrated infrastructure connectivity plans. Starting from the DND Flyover in Delhi and passing through Gurgaon – Sohna (in Haryana), it connects Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Udaipur, Chittorgarh, Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. The fully completed 246 km long stretch under the Rajasthan section was recently inaugurated by the Prime Minister and the entire expressway is set to become operational next year. The plan is also to link it with the 88 km, 6-lane Agra-Gwalior Expressway for which construction will start this year and get completed in 2027.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will have immense socio-economic benefits. By connecting major cities and industrial hubs in six key states, it will improve connectivity, speed up commuting, and save 300 million litres of fuel every year, thereby substantially reducing transportation costs. Since transportation costs form a major chunk of logistics costs, the e-way will help in a big way in boosting the Government's plan to bring down logistics costs to single digit (7-8% of GDP) in line with global standards. This, in turn, will prove to be an economic booster. By saving 800 million kilograms of carbon emissions every year, the e-way will promote green mobility. Moreover, as the e-way will provide a direct link between industrial centres and ports, it will help businesses to access markets across the country, thereby providing impetus to trade and commerce.
This prime e-way will provide a major push to the growth of residential and commercial realty. Industrial hubs along the expressway will prove to be magnets for attracting new businesses and industries, pushing demand for commercial realty including logistics and warehousing. Leading property consultancies forecast that Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will boost rental rates of commercial office and industrial space by about 20% in Delhi-NCR, which accounts for one-third of India's commercial real estate space. Enhanced connectivity will encourage development of new residential and industrial townships along the e-way and capital and rental values will likely see 15-20% increase in Delhi-NCR. The high growth in residential, commercial and industrial real estate will create huge job opportunities.
Another game changing expressway in Delhi-NCR which is racing ahead towards completion is the Dwarka Expressway. This 28 km long 8-lane access-controlled highway being built at a cost of over Rs 9,000 crore, has the distinction of being the longest elevated urban road. Starting from Shiv Murti and ending at Kherki Daula on NH8, the e-way is heading for completion in 2024. It will provide seamless connectivity to Gurgaon and Manesar with IGIA and Delhi. Since Dwarka Expressway is an alternate route to NH8 between Delhi and Gurgaon, this will boost real estate development in New Gurgaon along NH8 between Gurgaon and Manesar. It will also provide impetus to warehousing and industrial real estate around IMT Manesar.
Dwarka Expressway has a great location advantage as it provides quick access to major e-ways like NH8, Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway and the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), besides having close connectivity with IGIA Delhi, Huda City Centre Metro Station, and Gurgaon Railway Station. It has faster connectivity with business and industrial hubs like Cyber City, Golf Course Road Extension, Sohna Road, and IMT Manesar. Because of this great location benefit, Dwarka Expressway has already seen huge investments in residential and commercial real estate, so much so that there are already around 150 projects, accounting for over one fourth of total residential supply of Gurgaon. Dwarka has emerged as a hub for residential real estate across all price points (affordable and luxury realty) besides having prime commercial developments. With modern lifestyle real estate developments, Dwarka Expressway has seen double-digit growth in capital rates during the last few years.
The three priority corridors of Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) in Delhi- NCR under the National Capital will be changing the face of urban commuting. The first 17 km section (between Sahibabad and Duhai) of 82 km Delhi- Meerut RRTS connecting Delhi with Ghaziabad and Meerut is set to be commissioned soon. Being built at a cost of Rs 30,274 crore, the entire corridor will become operational in 2025. The second priority RRTS corridor of Delhi-Gurgaon-SNB (Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror) has been brought under the PM GatiShakti Programme to fast track the project.
As part of the big infrastructure push, Delhi-NCR is seeing massive development on the Metro Rail and Rapid Rail connectivity front. The Phase-4 expansion of Delhi Metro currently underway will see the development of India's first metro ring corridor to connect major cities. Phase-4, which will become operational by 2025, will result in the expansion of Pink Line, making Metro connectivity available to people living across 70 kms on both sides of the ring corridor.
Apart from this, the Delhi Metro construction work is in full swing in RK Ashram-Janakpuri West and Tuglakabad-Aerocity Corridor. Delhi Metro commuters will have access to metro connectivity to areas such as Anand Vihar Railway Station and ISBT and Nizamuddin Railway Station, deriving advantage of connectivity with major cities.
In Noida, work on the Noida-Greater Noida West Aqua Line Metro Extension is going on at a fast pace and is expected to finish by end-2024. This 14.9 km long metro line project is being jointly developed by the Noida Authority and the Uttar Pradesh government with Centre's 20% equity, at a total cost of Rs 2,100 crore. As part of this project, Noida Sector 51 and Knowledge Park V in Greater Noida will be connected, providing a boost to IT industry in the area. A DPR is also being readied by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) at the behest of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). As per the plan, Noida Airport will be connected with IGIA through New Delhi Metro Station. The plan also involves building a metro corridor to provide multi-modal connectivity from Noida Airport to Delhi's IGIA. DMRC has proposed 6 metro stations between Greater Noida Knowledge Park 2 and New Delhi Metro Station, and 7 metro stations between Knowledge Park 2 and Noida International Airport.
Gurgaon is set for a major metro expansion. Thirteen years after the city got metro connectivity with Delhi up to Huda City Centre through Delhi Metro's Yellow Line, the stage is set for its extension across the city. To be developed by Haryana Metro Rail Transport Corporation (HMRTC), this 28 km long metro line planned at a cost of Rs 6400 crore was stuck for five years. But now, with HMRTC speeding up selection of the design consultant for the proposed metro line approved by the Haryana government and the Public Investment Board of the Centre, the process for initiating construction has picked up pace. The metro extension line will run between Huda City Centre and Cyber Hub, passing through Subhash Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, and Palam Vihar, with a spur connecting Dwarka Expressway. Having interchange with the Yellow Line of Delhi Metro and Rapid Metro and Delhi-Alwar RRTS, Gurgaon Metro Extension will provide a big connectivity boost to real estate and urban development in and around Gurgaon.
Metro Rail has significant economic impact. It ensures faster connectivity with ease and comfort of commuting. Besides having greater traffic capacity, it reduces commuting time by 50-75%. It has low energy consumption of 20% per passenger per km in comparison to road-based systems and the huge reduction in air pollution enhances economic rate of return. By providing faster connectivity to major residential, commercial, business, trade, and industrial areas, metro rail networks lead to economic growth.
NCR is set for a major connectivity boost with Jewar (Greater Noida) International Airport being constructed at a cost of Rs 30000 crore. India's largest airport, it is being developed by Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL) on PPP basis. Flughafen Zurich AG of Germany will build and operate the airport. The plan is to build a 2-runway airport in the first phase and later expand it to 6-runways. The first phase of the airport, spread over 1334 hectares out of the total area of 3418 hectares, will become operational in 2024.
NHAI is constructing a 31 km long highway connecting Jewar Airport with Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at Faridabad via Ballabgarh and Palwal. There will be High Speed Railway Station (HSR) at Jewar Airport as part of the proposed Delhi-Varanasi HSR Corridor. Another highlight will be a pod taxi link between Jewar airport and Sector 21 Noida.
Noida International Airport will generate massive investment opportunities with long-term economic benefits through real estate and tourism development, besides providing a boost to export and employment. The Uttar Pradesh government expects the airport to attract investments worth Rs 35,000 crore and an additional Rs 10,000 crore of investments in the peripheral areas for residential, commercial real estate, manufacturing and hospitality. Mega projects like Film City are being developed in the vicinity of the airport. With multi-modal logistics hub at Dadri at 40 km from the airport, logistics will get a big boost. Jewar Airport being the first airport to have an integrated multi-modal cargo hub, will give a huge impetus to exports and imports.
