PM Modi to inaugurate Western Peripheral Expressway on Monday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Western Peripheral Expressway on Monday in Gurugram district.

The project, which was originally expected to complete in 2009, has missed multiple deadlines. It has taken 15 years to complete this project.

The project was proposed in 2003 and was awarded to KMP Expressways Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of DS Constructions, Madhucon Projects and Apollo Enterprises in 2005. The initial total cost of the project was Rs 1,915 crore.

In June 2012, in a multi-party meeting between Haryana government, Delhi government and the developer in which a revised deadline of May 2013 was fixed. However, due to delay in construction, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) decided to penalize the company in April 2012 after which the dispute went to the courts and the project was stalled.

Later on, the lenders led by IDBI Bank served the concessionaire KMP Expressways with a substitution notice due to its continued defaults in the performance of its financial and other obligations.

Subsequently, then Haryana government, which had also awarded the contract, decided to terminate it and pay KMP Expressways and lenders Rs 1,300 crore as the termination payment.

In 2014, the project was revived. It was also decided to upgrade the expressway to a six-lane expressway. Following that on April 5, 2016, the 53-km stretch between Manesar and Palwal was opened for the public use.