Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced that a part of the 135.65-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway will be opened this November. The first segment of the four-lane expressway between Manesar (NH-8) and Palwal (NH-2) will be opened in the first week of November, Hooda said. On the expressway,toll will be levied according to the distance travelled,also called partial tolling. The Chief Minister said the entire length of the expressway,originally scheduled to open this July,will not become functional before April-May next year. The July 2009 deadline was extended to December 31,2010,as the concessionaire,DSC Limited,lost around 15 months in litigation with a project partner. In April,after a review visit,Hooda had directed officials to expedite work. The expressway,once complete,will be the largest Build Operate Transfer (BOT) project in the country and will provide a high-speed link between Northern Haryana and its southern districts like Sonepat,Jhajjar,Gurgaon and Faridabad. Being implemented under the authority of the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (HSIIDC),one of the main aims of the expressway is to decongest the National Capital Region by diverting heavy polluting vehicles out of Delhi. As soon as the expressway is open,Delhi will divert all heavy vehicle and truck traffic onto it. This is likely to bring down pollution levels within the city, said Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta. According to the concessionaire,60 per cent of the work was finished by April and the project is now expected to be complete by the end of this year. The changes in design of railway overbridges (ROBs) and grade separators caused the delay,among other issues, KMP Expressway chairman H S Kohli reasoned. HSIIDC officials,however, are not satisfied with the work. The expressway runs through agricultural land for most part with hardly any obstructions,except for a few clearances needed from third parties like the Railways. But the manner in which the work is progressing,it seems highly unlikely that it can be completed in another eight months. Work on National Highway Authority of Indias Eastern Peripheral Expressway is yet to pick up pace and this has become a convenient excuse for the concessionaire, said an HSIIDC official,who did not want to be named. We will complete road work on the expressway by December 31 this year. Work on grade separators,however,might take longer as certain section of the land is yet to be handed over to us after a stay order by court. In case of ROBs,there was delay in getting approval for three and we are still awaiting approval for one ROB. We are putting our best effort and working closely with authorities concerned to complete the project at the earliest, a DSC spokesperson told Newsline. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 1,915 crore; of this,Rs 1,200 crore had already been spent till the end of April this year. The state government has also notified a 2-km area around the entire length of the expressway to prevent haphazard development in the zone. The stretches23.5 KmSonepat-Kundli 27 KmKundli-Jhajjar 24.5 KmJhajjar-manesar 28 Kmmanesar-mewat 21.65 Kmmewat-palwal Toll The project is planned on a first-of-its kind closed-loop tolling system,wherein the user pays toll as per the distance covered on the expressway. The toll rates:Rs 0.75 per km for car,passenger van or jeepRs 1.25 per km for light commercial vehicleRs 2.60 per km for truck/busRs 4.15 per km for multi-axle vehicle 120 Kmph Speed limit 2,200 m Average radius of curves keeping high-speed vehicular traffic in mind 3 m to 9 mHeight of embankment 22 m Highest point,in the Aravalli Hills stretch at Ghuspaiti village in Mewat district
