The highly anticipated underpass at Vatika Chowk has finally been inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and opened to the public on Friday. The 825m is going to an underpass with approach roads on both sides built to ease the traffic. The traffic between Southern Peripheral Road (SPR) and Golf Course Road Extension.
This was also built at a cost of Rs 109 crore by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and funded by GMDA, it was also underpass work that was supposed to be completed by June. Frequent spells of rain impeded the progress of the work, while delays in getting funds further affected its pace, according to NHAI officials.
The underpass work was originally going to be undertaken by GMDA and later was passed out to NHAI as it is also built underneath the elevated road. This also got the Chief Minister’s administration’s approval in July last year.
The project has also been significant as there are tons of residential and commercial complexes in the vicinity and thousands of commuters going towards Faridabad and NH-8. It also no longer faces congestion daily, ensuring smooth inter-sector connectivity in newly developed sectors along SPR. The Dwarka Expressway is also going to be open soon, this underpass will further ease commuters, “Amit Godara, GMDA executive engineer.
Even at the inaugural event, Khattar said 16 underpasses and 15 flyovers have also been built in the city after he came to power in 2014.
There are 58 projects that span 245 km in the city, for which Rs 1,747 crore has also been allocated work on many of these projects which have either been completed or are still in process. An amount of Rs 1,027 crore is also being spent on 10 big projects like sewerage network and drainage in the city, commented Khattar.
Union Minister Road Inderjit Singh GMDA, CEO, MCG Commissioner PC Meena, deputy commissioner Nishant Yadav also came along with senior officials of GMDA were present at the event. It is also the opening of the underpass that will benefit commuters by reducing travel time. motorists are disappointed with the delay in the redevelopment of SPR.
Deepak Fialok, a resident of sector 70A has also commented that the underpass was also much-needed after the partial opening of Dwarka Expressway, where the traffic at the spot increased manifold resulting in snarls, especially during rush hours. It is also a big fist to residents living along SPR. However, it is also better for us if the authorities have done something about the dilapidated condition of the road.
When asked about the SPR Road, GMDA officials said that they have floated a tender to carry out special repair SPR from Ghanta Village to Vatika Chowk at a cost of rs 7.6 crore. This is also going to start to repair work once we get all the necessary approvals.
