New Delhi, July 1: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the construction of a 6-lane tunnel worth Rs 6,969.67 crore to connect the Dwarka Expressway to the Nelson Mandela Marg at Vasant Kunj in Delhi.
Major Connectivity Boost Approved
The 8.1-km road tunnel for NH-148AE will be constructed through hybrid annuity mode (HAM), and the project is expected to be completed in five years, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a press briefing.
The project will provide faster connectivity between West and South Delhi, connecting UER 2/Dwarka Expressway to Vasant Kunj in South Delhi. It will ease traffic from Gurugram, Dwarka, IGI Airport, and West Delhi towards South Delhi, according to an official statement.
Tunnel Alignment Details
A 1.98-km section of the tunnel will pass beneath the Southern Ridge Forest.
The statement said that the underground twin-tube tunnel minimises surface disruption, preserving the ridge.
Additional Road Infrastructure
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is also proposing an elevated corridor between AIIMS and Mahipalpur. This link will connect the tunnel to the Barapullah elevated road, thereby connecting West Delhi, South Delhi with East Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida, it added.
The tunnel, to be constructed through a tunnel boring machine (TBM), will start from Shivmurti interchange and terminate before the intersection of Nelson Mandela Marg and Mahipalpur Chhatarpur Road.
To mitigate congestion at this intersection, an elevated 1.8-km road is proposed along the Nelson Mandela Marg. An additional flyover from Chhatarpur towards Mahipalpur is also proposed along the existing flyover, the statement said.
To facilitate the right-turning traffic towards Chhatarpur, an elevated U-turn is also proposed, the statement said.
The length of the main carriageway is 6.3 km. Considering the proposed flyover and elevated U-turn along Mahipalpur-Chhatarpur Road, the total project length is 8.100 km.
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Employment Generation Impact
The statement said it has been estimated that the development of each lane-kilometre of a National Highway generates an average of 264 person-days/day of direct employment and average 55 person-days/day of indirect employment.
Therefore, the project will generate close to 7.54 lakh person-days of direct employment and 9.80 lakh person-days of indirect employment, it added.
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