North-South Corridor project to start soon: Minister.

Several years after the Delhi Government's Public Works Department first proposed the project, a 28-km-long corridor from Wazirabad in the north to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the south is likely to start soon.

PWD Minister Satyendar Jain said recently that the project, which is estimated to cost ₹6,000 crore, was presented to Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal, who asked the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) to clear it soon.

“The L-G has appreciated the project and directed UTTIPEC to approve it. We will be able to start work soon after that as there are no objections to it by any other department,” said Mr. Jain.

The corridor would be 28.6-km long, from Signature Bridge in Wazirabad to National Highway-8 near the airport.

A stretch of 6.1 km would be an underground tunnel, while another stretch of 9 km would be constructed over the Najafgarh drain, similar to the Barapullah elevated road over the Barapullah drain.

Mr. Jain said that the approval from UTTIPEC was likely in about one or two months, after which the pre-construction planning period would be six months. He said the construction would take three years.

“The corridor would reduce travel time on the stretch from one to three hours currently to just 20 to 30 minutes,” said Mr. Jain.

In addition, he added that the government would set up a high-speed bus service on the corridor. He said the government would procure electric buses for the service. Another project meant to ease traffic, the East-West corridor from Anand Vihar to Tikri border would take longer to get going as the Railways has objected to a part of the alignment, said Mr. Jain. But, he said, the design would be revised soon.

THE HINDU