Technical feasibility survey for Hindon expressway

The Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (UP) governments today decided to carry out a technical feasibility survey for the proposed eight-lane Hindon express highway between New Delhi and Dehra Dun. The survey will also find out the financial viability of the project.

This was decided at a high-level meeting here, presided over by Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri. Besides Khanduri, UP Chief Secretary Atul Gupta and his Uttarakhand counterpart Indu Kumar Pande and a host of other top officials were present at the meeting.

The move follows the decision by both Uttarakhand and UP to jointly build the expressway from New Delhi to Dehra Dun that will shorten the distance considerably. Feedback Ventures is the consultant of the project. “We are hopeful for the completion of the technical survey in six months,” an official said.

The meeting also mulled strategy for early completion of the expressway along the Hindon river.

A separate service lane is also being proposed in the expressway that will be toll-free.

The eight-lane expressway will start from the national capital going through cities like Ghaziabad and Saharanpur. From Saharanpur, the state government will further extend it up to Dehra Dun and Haridwar. The total length of the expressway is expected around 200 km. But after the alignment, the official said the distance can further be reduced.

Under the plan, the Uttarakhand government will bear the expenditure of the expressway from Saharanpur to Dehra Dun. The expenditure cost is being worked out.

The proposal is being seen as a major infrastructure initiative taken by New Delhi and Uttarakhand that can boost business prospects in the hill state.

At present, traffic congestion is very high on the Delhi-Dehra Dun highway, which is also being widened. But, since the pace of work on the highway is slow, the Uttarakhand government has evinced interest for the proposal of the UP government to build the expressway.