THE Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved highway projects in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh entailing total investment of Rs 14,115 crore. The construction of a six-lane road tunnel for NH-148AE, connecting Dwarka Expressway with Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj in Delhi, has been approved, and the project is expected to be completed in five years, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters here. The 8.1-kilometre project will be developed with a total capital cost of Rs 6,969.67 crore. Besides, the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod for the construction of the 117.7-km 4/6-lane access-controlled Kanpur-Kabrai section of NH-34 in Uttar Pradesh. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 7,145.14 crore. According to an official statement, the 6-lane tunnel project connecting Dwarka Expressway with Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj will provide faster connectivity between West and South Delhi, connecting UER 2/Dwarka Expressway to Vasant Kunj in South Delhi. It will ease traffic from Gurugram, Dwarka, IGI Airport, and West Delhi towards South Delhi, according to an official statement.

 

A 1.98-km section of the tunnel will pass beneath the Southern Ridge Forest. The statement said that the underground twin-tube tunnel minimises surface disruption, preserving the ridge. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is also proposing an elevated corridor between AIIMS and Mahipalpur. This link will connect the tunnel to the Barapullah elevated road, thereby connecting West Delhi, South Delhi with East Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida, it added. According to a separate official statement, the construction of a 4/6-lane access-controlled greenfield highway project on the Kanpur-Kabrai section of NH-34 will form a key segment of the Bhopal-Kanpur Economic Corridor under the National Highways (O) Programme. The project will provide seamless, high-speed connectivity between Kanpur and Kabrai, while strengthening onward connectivity to Sagar, Bhopal and other parts of Madhya Pradesh, thereby creating a modern access-controlled economic corridor linking the industrial and commercial centres of Uttar Pradesh with mineral-rich, manufacturing and agricultural regions of Madhya Pradesh, it added.