NHAI fast tracks Rs 5,763-cr e-way project

Eastern Peripheral Expressway Project entailing an investment of Rs. 5,763cr, which is destined to decongest Delhi, has been placed on fast-track has to be commissioned in about 400 days. After its completion, it will become India's first 135 km green road to be lit entirely by solar panels and have an advanced traffic system. On completion, the green field project will divert around two lakh vehicles passing through the national capital daily to this bypass, curtailing pollution. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman, Raghav Chandra, who inspected the project sites in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana, expressed hope that the project will be completed much ahead of the deadline of July 2018.

Eastern Peripheral Expressway project, which hit several roadblocks, saw the laying of its foundation by the Prime Minster, Narendra Modi in November 2015. The project, which commenced in May 2016, will consume a million tons of fly ash from NTPC's various thermal plants to utilise waste and minimize pollution in and around the National Capital. The project work has been divided into six packages, a 21-km stretch in Sonepat-Baghpat, a 24.5-km stretch in Baghpat-Ghaziabad, a 24.5-km stretch in Ghaziabad-GB Nagar, a 22-km stretch in GN Nagar, a 21-km stretch in GN Nagar-Faridabad, and a 22-km stretch in Faridabad-Palwal.