Gurgaon-Jaipur expressway considered for Rs 33,000 crore

To ease traffic on National Highway-8, connecting Gurgaon and Jaipur, the government is considering a proposal to build an expressway for Rs 32,800 crore.

"We have received a proposal. It is under consideration and depending upon the viability, very soon a decision will be made," road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters here. "For the project, around 2,800 hectares need to be acquired. The cost of the land acquisition will be Rs 18,000 crore."

The proposed expressway would start from the south of Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi and end at Daulatpura on the existing National Highway-8.

Gadkari, here to review work on the existing highway, said the much-delayed six-laning of the 226-km Gurgaon-Jaipur section of NH-8 would be opened for public use in December. "The previous government is largely responsible for delays in this crucial project, which should have been completed by 2011. Over 90 per cent of the work is complete," he said.

Pink City Expressway, a group of ETA & KMC Construction, is the project developer. The earlier commissioning date was October 2011, but it had faced several hurdles in terms of land acquisition, environmental clearance, shifting of utility services, litigation, etc.