Gurugram: Bajghera underpass to be ready by December, Dwarka e-way by March

The Dwarka Expressway project contractor on Friday said they will complete the Bajghera underpass by the end of December as almost the entire structural work is complete and they are giving it finishing touches.

The completion of this critical structure will facilitate easier movement of traffic from Najafgarh, west Delhi, Dwarka, Bahadurgarh and adjoining areas to Gurugram.

Dwarka Expressway is being built at a cost of 9,000 crore in four packages. While 19km (package three and four) are in Gurugram, 10km (package one and two) are in Delhi.

Larson and Toubro (L&T), the contractor of the Gurugram section of 19km, said apart from Bajghera underpass, they will also open two more bridges on the expressway, which will ensure improved traffic movement on this road.

Tanmoy Chatterjee, project director, L&T, said additional manpower and machinery has been mobilised to increase the pace of work and they expect the phase four of the project to be completed by February, while phase three will be completed by March.

“If things go as planned, the work on the Gurugram section of the project will be completed by March next year. In the meanwhile, we will be completing crucial parts such as Bajghera underpass, and the cloverleaf on central Peripheral Road near Kherki Daula by December-end,” he said.

The underpass at Bajghera is 500 metres long and, once opened, will facilitate the movement of traffic between Gururgam and Delhi and other parts of Haryana, he said.

L&T said apart from the underpass, the Pataudi Chowk flyover will be ready to be opened for traffic the coming month; the service road along with it is also ready. “Work is on full swing and we have completed 90% work on package four and 85% work on package three,” said Chatterjee.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) said all efforts are being made to complete the entire Dwarka Expressway by March next year.

Nirman Jambulkar, project director, NHAI, said, “More men and material have been deployed at the project site and the pace of work has been accelerated. We are hoping to complete the work at the earliest. The underpass at Bajghera is part of the project and it will facilitate better movement of traffic once it is opened to traffic,” he said, confirming that they are expecting to open the flyover by the end of December.

A senior NHAI official, however, said a key challenge for the contractor would be to give finishing touches to the project as that is very labour intensive and time consuming. “Putting up signboards, streetlights, and marking key stretches and other works take time. Additional resources will have to be mobilised to complete these works,” he said.

Residents of Palam Vihar and Bajghera said that this underpass was critical as thousands of vehicles used this road every day, and heavy congestion is seen for want of an underpass. “We have been pleading with the authorities to complete the underpass at the earliest and open it, as it will ease traffic movement as Bajghera is the gateway to Gurugram on the western side,” said Rakesh Rana, president, Saikunj RWA, Bajghera.

The residents also said the want of an underpass has delayed the city bus service to the area.

The expressway starts from Shiv Murti near Mahipalpur on NH-8 and passes through Dwarka Sector 21, Gurugram border, Basai and ends near Kherki Daula on the national highway. The project was conceived in 2006 by Haryana government but got stuck due to land issues and was taken over by NHAI in 2016, after it was declared a national highway.

The work on the project restarted in 2019 and was slated to be completed in 2021, but due to Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline was revised to December 2022 for the Gurugram section and September 2023 for the Delhi section.

Package one of the expressway starts from Shiv Murti and is 5.90 km in length, while package two covers 4.2km from Dwarka Sector 21 to Gurugam-Delhi border. Package three is 10.2km long from Gurugram border to Basai railway bridge, while package four is from Basai railway bridge to Kherki Daula and is 8.76km in length.