Delhi Public Works Department Minister Satyendra Jain on Wednesday requested the Centre to speed up implementation of the eastern and western peripheral expressway projects, in which the neighbouring States of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana also have stakes, without requiring the Delhi Government to pay the enhanced amount of money.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana were to share the cost of construction in the ratio of 50:25:25 respectively in the projects. The original cost of the projects was Rs.844 crore, which has escalated to Rs.3,589.56 crore after four revisions. In a letter addressed to Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Mr. Jain said Delhi’s share in the two projects initially was Rs.422 crore and the State paid its share up to the first revision of cost, which amounted to Rs. 653.50 crore, within the prescribed time till 2006.
Mr. Jain, who met Mr. Gadkari in this connection on Tuesday, said the Centre had been apprised of the Delhi Government’s capacity to fund the projects several times in the correspondence of the Lieutenant Governor with him during the past one year.
“The Delhi Government has very limited sources of revenue to meet the continuous escalation in the cost of the projects. Asking for our share beyond the original is not possible for Delhi,” said Mr. Jain.
The two expressways — each about 135 km long — were planned in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to form a ring road outside Delhi for channelling non-Delhi bound traffic bypassing the Capital. While the eastern peripheral expressway envisages to provide signal-free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Greater Noida and Palwal, the western expressway will connect Kundli to Palwal via Manesar in Haryana.
