New agency to complete stalled KMP expressway in Haryana

A new agency will be roped in by the Haryana government for the completion of the stalled Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway in the state, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said Saturday,

Hindrances coming in the way of construction of the KMP Expressway were being removed and work on the project would start soon, he said.

"We are trying to resolve the matter so that the expressway can be completed at the earliest. A new agency may be given the work soon," Khattar told media in Sonipat town, 180 km from here.

The the nearly Rs.1,900 crore, 135-km-long KMP expressway project, launched with much fanfare by the previous Congress government led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been delayed much beyond its completion deadline of December 2009.

The crucial project was being executed by a concessionaire, KMP Expressways Ltd - a consortium of DSC Ltd and Apollo Enterprises. The concessionaire was attacked by the Hooda government for missing completion deadlines repeatedly but alleged the state government had failed to acquire land for the project in time leading to a cost escalation.

The Haryana government, after repeated warnings, invoked the penalty clause against the concessionaire which in turn approached the Supreme Court.

Less than 65 percent of the project had been completed till October 2011.

The KMP expressway is intended to ease the inflow of traffic, especially heavy vehicles like trucks, passing through the national capital.

The significance of the expressway is not only that it will connect four major national highways - NH-1 (Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar), NH-2 (Delhi-Agra-Varanasi-Dankuni), NH-8 (Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai) and NH-10 (Delhi-Hisar-Fazilka-India-Pakistan border), but will significantly reduce the traffic from north Indian states to central, western and south India and vice versa.

Thousands of vehicles, especially trucks, which now pass through New Delhi, will be able to bypass the national capital once the KMP expressway is completed.