In the wake of a favourable court order and a recent land acquisition notification, the 16-lane Northern Peripheral Expressway, popularly known as the Dwarka Expressway, seems to be on a revival spree.
Work on the 27-km-long expressway is running almost seven years behind schedule. In March, however, the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of a bunch of writ petitions challenging acquisition of land for the project and seeking quashing of award after the Haryana government offered a special package to them.
On May 15, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a notification for land acquisition in Delhi under Section 3(A) of the National Highways Act, 1956.
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Stalled housing projects
Project Director, National Highways Authority of India, Ashok Kumar Sharma, said land acquisition for around 5 km stretch of the expressway, starting from the Delhi-Haryana border to the Dwarka Sector 21 metro station, was put on fast lane with the notification.
More than 150 housing projects have been launched along the Dwarka Expressway. However, impediments in the construction of the expressway have left the developers in a lurch. Of the 97,000 residential units, only around 7,500 units have been delivered.
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In another good news for the flat owners on this stretch, the Basai Railway Overbridge (ROB) on the expressway is set to be opened soon.
“We are seeking an appointment with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to inaugurate the ROB. The stretch will connect Delhi to National Highway-8,” said Yashpal Yadav, Administrator (Gurugram), Haryana Urban Development Authority.
Developers such as Experion, Raheja, Atharva, Mahindra Lifespace are among those to have given possession of their flats in the area.
Realtors such as Tata Housing, Emaar India, Homestead Group, AMB Group, Godrej Properties, BPTP, Sobha Developers and M3M have projects lined up along the expressway.
‘Next hotspot’
“The Dwarka Expressway will be the next real estate hotspot in Delhi-NCR when completed. We have three projects in Sector 102 and another near the Kherki Dhaula toll. We have put our projects on fast track hoping that the road would be completed soon and target to deliver by August 2018,” said a spokesperson of Emaar India.
Mr. Yadav said the residents near Kherki Dhaula and in New Palam Vihar were already allotted plots in March and April, respectively. “We are hopeful of completing the 18-km section of the expressway by the year-end,” he added.
Pradip Rahi, general secretary, DXP Welfare Association, said the opening of the ROB was positive news. “We will now focus on the completion of the expressway, as there are some pending litigation issues due to frivolous applications filed by few oustees with vested interests,” said Mr. Rahi.