New Expressways To Delhi East and West Coming Up In 2017, Says Gadkari

Come August 2017, Delhi will see the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways thrown open to the commuters. The two roads are expected to reduce Delhi¡¯s traffic woes by 50% along with reducing pollution, the union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has said.

He assured that the Centre is working seriously to decongest Delhi and NCR in order to improve the air quality.

¡°We are building the easterly and westerly bypass with a cost of Rs 15,000 crores. It was to be completed in two-and-a-half years. However, following the prime minister¡¯s directive, we will complete the project in 400 days. I am happy to announce that we will be inaugurating it in August, 2017. Construction of this single road will cut down air pollution and congestion in Delhi by 50%,¡± he said.

The eastern and western expressways were planned in 2006, following a Supreme Court order to construct a ring road, to allow non-Delhi bound vehicles to bypass the capital while moving between neighbouring states.

Speaking at the 3rd India Health and Wellness Summit, Gadkari also said that solid waste from Ghazipur sanitary landfill site in east Delhi, will be used in road construction.

¡°The Central Road Research Organisation, after six months of research, found that solid waste, segregated into plastic, metal and glass, could be used for road construction. The whole garbage at Ghazipur will now be used up for road construction,¡± he said.

Linking health with problems of air pollution, fossil fuels, solid and liquid waste, the minister said diversification of agriculture for harnessing power and energy was needed, to meet the challenges faced by cities. He said that his ministry was working with other ministries, to make Euro VI emission norms mandatory, before April 1, 2020. He cited that 70 projects have been envisaged, to recycle sewage and industrial effluents, as part of efforts to rid the Ganga river of pollution.