Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday chaired a review meeting with Public Works Department (PWD) officials on the status of the ongoing redesigning and streetscaping of seven road stretches and 540 km of identified roads in the Capital along the lines of European cities.
“The process of designing the roads should be done in a swift manner and the project should be completed within the stipulated deadline. The PWD should ensure the removal of all obstacles, the project needs to be completed in two years. There should be no laxity in the completion,” Mr. Kejriwal was quoted.
The Delhi government is working to redesign 100-foot wide roads spread across 540 km in the city. Mr. Kejriwal approved the project in November 2019.
The development of these roads will be on the lines of the Built-Operate-Transfer model and the construction company will take care of the maintenance for 15 years.
The main aim of the project will be removing bottlenecks from roads for a smooth flow of traffic and decongestion, encouraging the use of non-motorised vehicles, constructing disabled-friendly infrastructure, along ensuring efficient use of space alongside the road stretches.
Organised lane system
Among the priorities under the drive are the removal of bottlenecks for smooth flow of traffic and an organised lane system. The second is to increase the efficiency of the existing space of the roads in the city so that spaces are best utilised as per their abilities. The project also envisages measured and planned spaces for vehicles, non-motorised vehicles, footpaths, and side-lanes.
The footpaths will be widely mapped to an average of 10 feet for the convenience of the pedestrians and will be redesigned and reconstructed as per a standard height for the convenience of the disabled.
There will also be separate spaces for planting trees on the sides of the footpaths, slopes of roads as well as drains will be redesigned to tackle the problem of waterlogging on the roads. Rainwater harvesting structures will also be built inside the drainage systems to store rainwater as groundwater.
