Representative photo
New Delhi: The Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Economic corridor, work on which is underway, will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 kilometres to 210 kilometres, and travel time from 6.5 hours as of now, to just 2.5 hours, once it is completed. This will be the country’s first highway where there will be a 12-kilometer long elevated corridor for protection of wildlife. The project will be executed under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.
The entire corridor is designed for driving with a minimum 100 Kmph speed, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways stated here today. It informed that for implementation, the entire length from Akshardham (starting point in New Delhi) to Dehradun has been divided into four sections.
Section 1, the Ministry stated, was being developed to 6 lanes with 6L service road being in built up reach, with complete access control and is divided into two packages. Package 1 fell in Delhi portion in 14.75 km and out of this 6.4 km is elevated. Package 2 was in Uttar Pradesh in length of 16.85 km and out of this 11.2 km is elevated.
The Ministry stated that the tendering process for these two packages had been completed and this section would start from Akshardham Temple near DME and pass through Geeta colony, Khajurikhas, Mandola. “This highway also aims to decongest the North East Delhi and also enhance the development potential of Tronica city, Mandola Vihar Yojana of the UP Government,” the Ministry stated.
Section 2 has been planned 6 lane fully access controlled and the entire length is Greenfield, passing through districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. The Detailed Project Report was complete and tendering process had been initiated in four packages, the Ministry stated. It further informed that land acquisition process was going on and Forest/Environment clearance proposal had been applied. “Target for project award is March 2021, subject to obtaining environment clearance and substantial land acquisition is in place,” the Ministry said.
The Section 3 of the project starts from Saharanpur bypass and ends at Ganeshpur. The entire length had recently completed to 4 lanes by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). “Necessary underpasses and service road are being planned to make it fully access controlled to achieve minimum 100 kmph speed,” it said, and added that Section 4 would be 6 lane with complete access controlled.
This section primarily passes through reserve forests in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Out of 20 km, 5 km is brownfield expansion, and 15 km is realignment comprising of elevated wild life corridor(12 km) and approaches to tunnel(structure 340m). “ROW (Rewards of Work) is restricted to 25m in general due to Wildlife concerns. Forest and Wildlife clearances have been obtained. The bids in 3 packages have been received and under evaluation. Target is to award the project by March 2021,” the Ministry stated.
– global bihari bureau
