Delhi’s Urban Extension Road Project (UER-II), which is being developed as part of the plan to decongest the national capital, will be an electric expressway, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told News18.
Explaining what an electric expressway is, Gadkari said the idea is to install electric cables through which buses and trucks will run like trains. For this one lane will be dedicated and buses and trucks will run one after the other.
Talking to News18, the minister said that the electric expressway has not yet been implemented anywhere.
“One lane in UER-II will have these electric cables,” he said, adding that the facility would eventually be extended to Jaipur.
He said the 75 km long UER-2 is expected to be commissioned in the next six months and is being touted as the third ring road of the national capital.
Asked how the common man would be affected by these electric highways or expressways, he said the buses they plan to run will provide business-class comfort to commuters, thereby eliminating the need to use private vehicles. Will happen
“We are discouraging the use of personal transport and encouraging the use of public transport. We are planning that people will get business class facilities in these buses. And when we are providing this facility (in public transport) at a cheaper cost, why would you use private vehicles?” He asked.
Gadkari also informed that there will be double decker luxury buses and trolleybuses which will run on these cables like the buses running in Europe. Trucks will also run like this.
“The cost of lithium-ion or Li-ion battery buses is around Rs 1.75 crore. However, the ones that run on cable are available at half the cost.
Better connectivity to Jaipur
Last month, the first section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was inaugurated between Sohna and Dausa, reducing travel to Jaipur substantially. Gadkari said that now the ministry is trying to make the journey to Jaipur easier.
Gadkari said that a road is being constructed 15 km before Dausa on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway which will directly connect Jaipur. “The Delhi-Jaipur Expressway will be part of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. This will make the journey to Jaipur easier.”
pollution free delhi
Gadkari said he wanted to see Delhi free from pollution in all aspects – air, water and noise.
He said that they are using 20 lakh tonnes of plastic waste from landfill sites in Ghazipur in UER-II. Gadkari said that though it was not his department, he wanted to free Delhi from the mountain of garbage.
“We have set a target of two years (to level these mountains), but the Delhi LG (Vinay Kumar Saxena) has asked us to do it in the next 18 months. This is not my department, but I want to free Delhi from these mountains of garbage.
Delhi has three landfill sites at Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla.
When asked how these waste materials are used in road construction, the minister said that they first segregate the waste and keep aside plastic, glass, metal and other items. They are then compacted and used outdoors depending on their quality.
When asked how they ensure that roads do not sink in future, he said that rollers are used to level the debris. “There will be no possibility of road subsidence,” he assured. He also said that 10,000 trees were planted along the highway alignment.
Gadkari said that while he is taking care of air pollution in Delhi, the central government is also providing funds for cleaning the Yamuna.
“Only noise pollution is left. I’m studying whether we can use instruments to make the horn sound so that it sounds good to our ears.
No change in the formula for calculating road construction
Gadkari also rejected the opposition’s claims that the ministry has changed the method of calculating the length of road construction.
“There is no change in the formula. The way the calculation was being done at the time of UPA, it is the same today. This formula is used across the world. It was all a misconception,” he said.
Expect UER-II in next six months
Gadkari said UER-II, which is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 7,716 crore as part of the Delhi Congestion Plan, would be completed and inaugurated in the next six months.
Gadkari, who inspected the site on Thursday, had earlier said he expected the project to be ready by December, but he set a deadline of six months after the inspection.
The project starts from NH-1 near Village Bankoli and ends near Sector 24 Junction in Dwarka. UER-II is being developed in five packages.
Gadkari said the first three packages of NH-344M will serve as an additional Western Ring Road in Delhi, connecting West/South Delhi, IGI Airport and Gurgaon to NH-44, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Will offer alternate routes for traffic. , It also connects to the proposed IICC at Dwarka and will improve traffic flow in Delhi.
Construction of the project began in November 2021 with a scheduled completion date of October 2023. The overall progress of the project is around 58 per cent.
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