Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has made a statement saying that the government will take up Rs 50,000 crore worth of highway projects to decongest Delhi, which is currently battling air and water pollution on several fronts.
After laying the foundation stone for a Rs 2,820 crore highway corridor project that will link Akshardham to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) junction on Baghpat road, Gadkari said, “Delhi is facing problem of air and water pollution. There are frequent traffic jams. We have taken a decision to start work on Rs 50,000 crore highway projects to decongest it.”
Gadkari also commented on the other projects which are part of this scheme. The foundation stone for the Rs 10,000 crore Dwarka Expressway will be laid next week and the work on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway will be completed by March, he said. He added that the Expressway will cut down travel time between Delhi and Meerut from 3.5hr to just 40min.
A new ring road called Urban Extension Road (UER) will also be constructed at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore. The Union Minister said that pollution levels in the capital have reduced significantly after the implementation of several projects like the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.