Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of multiple projects worth around Rs 18,000 crore including the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor on Saturday in Dehradun, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said. A significant focus of the Prime Minister’s visit to the state will be on projects to improve the road infrastructure, which will make travel smooth and safer and increase tourism in the region, the ministry said. This is in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost connectivity in the areas which were once considered far-flung. The total number of ongoing works for the development of National Highways in Uttarakhand is 83 which are targeted to be completed between 2021 and 2023, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.
The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor (from Eastern Peripheral Expressway Junction to Dehradun) will be built at a cost of around Rs. 8,300 crore. The project will be executed under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode.
For implementation, the entire length from Akshardham (starting point) to Dehradun will be divided into 4 sections. Section 1 is being developed into 6 lanes with 6L service road being in built-up reach, with complete access control and is divided into 2 packages. Package 1 falls in the Delhi portion in the length of 14.75 km and out of this 6.4 km is elevated, the official statement reads.
Package 2 falls in Uttar Pradesh with the length of 16.85 km and out of this 11.2 km is elevated. This section would start from Akshardham Temple near Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) and pass through Geeta colony, Khajurikhas, Mandola, etc. This highway aims to decongest North East Delhi and also enhance the development potential of Tronica city, MandolaVihar Yojana of the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
Section 2 is a 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 (DPR) is complete. The land acquisition process is going on and Forest/Environment clearance proposals have been applied, it added.
Section 3 starts from Saharanpur bypass and ends at Ganeshpur. The entire length has recently been completed to 4 lanes by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Necessary underpasses and service roads are being planned to make it fully access controlled to achieve a minimum 100 km/hr speed.
Section 4 is a planned 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 wildlife corridor (12 km) and approaches a tunnel (structure 340m).
The corridor will reduce the distance between Delhi and Dehradun from 235 kilometres to 210 kilometres. The project will significantly reduce the travel time from Delhi to Dehradun from six hours to around 2.5 hours. The entire corridor is designed for driving with a minimum 100 km per hour speed.
Among the environment-friendly features of the corridor, it will have Asia’s largest wildlife elevated corridor (12 km) for unrestricted wildlife movement, a 340-meter long tunnel near DatKaali temple, Dehradun will help reduce the impact on wildlife and multiple animal passes have been provided in the Ganeshpur-Dehradun section for avoiding animal-vehicle collisions, it added. Apart from the corridor, PM Modi will inaugurate seven other projects, including those which focus on making travel safer by tackling the problem of chronic landslides in the region.