The Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Manesar-Palwal section of the Kundli- Manesar-Palwal Expressway in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal Khattar and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Krishna Pal Gurjar in Palwal today. Speaking on the occasion Shri Gadkari said that the project had earlier been languishing for several years. However the Centre and the Haryana Government resolved the issues plaguing it and the 52.33 Km long section of the expressway has been completed in a record time of eleven months. He said that Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways are targeted for completion within 400 days from the start of the project. Once the two peripheral expressways are ready, the traffic congestion in Delhi will come down by 50 percent, pollution levels will be reduced and the farmers, traders and the people of the region as a whole will benefit due to better connectivity. Shri Gadkari reiterated his Government’s commitment for bringing in policies aimed at improving the condition of villages, poor people, farmers and labourers. He said, strong infrastructure plays a major role in fostering development. Road building activity, he said, has caught speed, and today we are building about 20 Km of roads per day.
The Manesar-Palwal section of the Expressway has been built at a cost of Rs 457.81Crores. It is an access controlled, six-lane, divided road with 1.5 metre wide paved shoulder on each side. It intersects with Delhi-Jaipur NH8 near Manesar, Palwal-Sohna-Rewari NH 919, Sohna-Nuh-Alwar Road NH 248A and finally joins NH2 near Palwal. The road will provide uninterrupted high –speed link for traffic, especially commercial traffic from Haryana to neighbouring states. It will also decongest road traffic through Delhi by allowing bypass of traffic not destined for Delhi. Road side amenities are under development. The road also has several underpasses, cattle crossing underpasses, agricultural vehicle underpasses bridges, pedestrian crossing underpasses and box culverts. Haryana Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal Khattar said that after having just four National Highways for so many years, Haryana has got 9 new National Highways in the last one and a half years. He said that the Kundli-Palwal section of the Western Peripheral Expressway will be completed within this year. Speaking on the occasion Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Krishna Pal Gurjar commended the Haryana government on having speedily completed a project that was languishing for so long. He said that the Government at the Centre was committed to building sound infrastructure in the country.