Govt nod for service roads on Dwarka eway likely soon

Gurugram: The construction of service roads along the Dwarka expressway is likely to get approval next month, as the purchase committee headed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is expected to discuss the matter in a meeting scheduled for March 4.

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) estimates that construction of service roads along the 18.6 km stretch in Gurugram will cost ₹94 crore. The authority expects that they will get approval to submit this agenda of service road construction in the meeting on March 4, and the road project will get financial approval.

The tender for construction of service roads along the Dwarka expressway from Sector 81 to 115 has already been floated by the authority to build 7.5 metres wide service road on each side. The authority had conceptualised the construction of this road in 2020 but it got administrative approval in June 2022. The final tender was floated in October 2023. The service roads will be constructed along with drains, footpaths, and street lights to ensure that commuters are able to access the Dwarka expressway without any hassle.

A senior GMDA official said that the construction of service roads along the 18.6 kilometres stretch of the Dwarka expressway is top priority for them. “We are expecting that we will get approval for submitting the agenda for financial approval for service road construction in the high-powered committee meeting scheduled on March 4. The approval for the agenda and project is expected,” the official said, adding that if the approval is granted, the work can start in the next couple of months.

The construction of service roads is expected to take 24 months.

According to GMDA officials, the tender for the project has already been floated and four companies have applied for the contract. “All rendering work required for the construction of these service roads is done. We need only an approval now from the state government,” the official added.

The construction of service roads is important along the Dwarka expressway as the road has been designed by NHAI as an access control road, and it has given access to the local traffic at only five points. The NHAI, in a letter written to the Haryana government on Monday, had asked the state government to expedite the construction of the service roads as without these, traffic was moving on to the expressway at surface level in a haphazard manner.

NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav, in a letter sent to the state government had said that Dwarka expressway is an access-controlled road and keeping this in mind, entry and exit are given at designated points for which GMDA has to construct service roads along it but the same has not been taken up by the authority. “Due to delay in construction of the sector road by GMDA, the local traffic is accessing the expressway in an unauthorised manner, which is a potential road safety hazard. Despite multiple requests from NHAI to GMDA and district administration, no action has been taken at their end to deter unauthorised access and prevent accidents,” he had said.