The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the construction of an 8.1 km long, six-lane road tunnel linking the Dwarka Expressway (NH-248BB) with Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj at an estimated cost. $6,969.67 Crores. The project, which will be implemented under Mixed Annuity Mode (HAM), is expected to be completed within five years.
The tunnel will pass under the Southern Ridge, one of Delhi’s largest forest areas, using tunnel boring machine (TBM) technology to minimize surface disturbance. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnau stressed that protecting the Ridge was key in the design of the project and said that all construction work would be carried out without affecting the environmentally sensitive area.
“All the work has to be done without disturbing the hills. This hill is, in a way, the lungs of Delhi. Therefore, the tunnel must be taken from under it without disturbing it at all,” Vaishnau told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. He said that detailed geotechnical and environmental studies have been conducted to ensure that the project will not have any impact on the geology of the Ridge or the ecosystem.
The project will provide a direct link between the Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II)-Dwarka Expressway corridor and South Delhi, improving connectivity for traffic from Gurugram, Dwarka, Indira Gandhi International Airport and West Delhi. According to the government, the tunnel will eventually connect to the proposed AIIMS-Mahipalpur elevated corridor, providing seamless access to the Barapulla elevated corridor and creating a continuous corridor connecting west, south and east Delhi, as well as Ghaziabad and Noida.
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The alignment will start at the Shiv Murti junction on the Dwarka Expressway and end before the intersection of Nelson Mandela Marg and Mahipalpur-Chhatarpur Road. The project consists of a 6.3 km main road, including a 3.14 km long underground double tunnel, of which approximately 1.98 km will pass under the southern hills. The remaining length includes approach roads, elevated sections and ramps.
To ease congestion at the Nelson Mandela Marg-Mahipalpur-Chatarpur intersection, the project also includes a 1.8-kilometre-long elevated road along Nelson Mandela Marg, an additional bridge for traffic moving from Chattarpur towards Mahipalpur, and an elevated U-turn to facilitate right-turn movements.
According to the government, the project is expected to generate about 7.54 lakh man-days per person from direct employment and 9.8 lakh man-days per person from indirect employment during construction.
The Cabinet also approved construction of 117.7 km long Kanpur-Kaprai section of NH-34 in Uttar Pradesh at an estimated cost. $Rs 7,145.14 crore. The four-lane access-controlled expressway will be developed under build-operate-transfer (toll) mode as part of the Bhopal-Kanpur Economic Corridor under Prime Minister’s National Master Plan Jati Shakti.
The expressway is designed for future expansion to six lanes, and is expected to reduce travel time between Kanpur and Kaprai from about three and a half hours to about one and a half hours. According to the government, the project will improve connectivity to industrial clusters, mining areas, agricultural markets, logistics hubs and airports in Bundelkhand.
