The nation’s longest expressway connecting the nationwide capital with monetary capital Mumbai is soon going to happen. At about two years from now, the 1,350-km Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will connect the 2 metros nearer by 12 hours.
On the dull village of Lohtaki, Haryana, on the Delhi-Dausa path, work is continuing at a greater speed. Engineers work below the burning sun, putting ending techniques to bridges and culverts. Truckloads of soil make its path to lay the inspiration of the Rs 90,000-crore expressway that can decrease throughout 5 states — Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The need of the workers and engineers confronting various mud storms is evident. The first part from Delhi to Lalsot, 30km forward of Dausa, is listed to open by December 21, and the whole expressway by January 2023.
Many firsts
The eight-lane expressway has many firsts to its credit score. The complete road could have six-foot partitions on each side to prevent animals and pedestrians from coming into. Enough space has been left on both aspects to allow expansion to 12 lanes.
In Asia, this would be the first expressway to have animal walkways the place it runs by way of wildlife sanctuaries. There can be the nation’s first eight-lane tunnel in Mukundra sanctuary to lessen the impact of visitors dashing previous at speeds as much as 120kmph.
Two million plants and bushes, watered with drip irrigation, will be planted beside the whole path whereas some parts of the expressway shall be illuminated using a mixture of energy provide from state grids and photovoltaic power.
NHAI is billing it as a “green highway”, and it’ll rope at school kids for a plantation drive beside the route. A proposal to prioritise new gas stations, together with hydrogen gas pumps, is under discussion.
On the side of the expressway, there will be facilities like resorts, eating places, meals courts and gas stations at 93 locations. It may also be the first expressway within the nation to have helipads and completely geared up trauma centres for accident victims.
“It’s a lifeline of the country and I feel proud to be associated with it,” Suresh Kumar, project director at NHAI, says in his workplace place a huge board reflects the different milestones which are to be done. Kumar, who had suffered a paralytic stroke, works 16 hours a day alongside together with his workforce to watch the progress of the 5 stretches with which he has been consigned.
A mega-project
The range of the project could be assessed from the truth that it’ll consume 5 lakh tonnes of metal and 35 lakh tonnes of cement, in addition to the 50 crore cubic metres of earth used to put its basis. It may also create 19,000 man-years of employment.
As the work began on September 5, 2019, groups have fanned out to hurry up the acquisition of the remaining portion of land and planning the precise route alignment. The expressway is expected to save lots greater than 320 million litres of gas yearly.
“All aspects of the project from alignment selection and pavement technology to the mode of contracts have been carefully thought through. The foremost challenge was acquisition of 15,000 hectares of land, which is 90% done,” stated Manoj Kumar, NHAI member and in charge of expressways. “Now, the focus… is real-time monitoring and decision making.”
Eye within the sky
The work was divided into small packages (stretches) for sooner development and to allow medium-scale development firms to join. For example, the Delhi-Vadodara side has been divided into 31 packages assigned to a number of firms. Package 3 in Haryana is 74% full, and package deal 6 in Rajasthan 70%.
Suresh Kumar recalls all of the pink tapes they needed to minimize by way of for shifting high tension energy strains, environmental clearances, underground surveys, buying land, remunerating farmers and finalising contracts for mining soil from adjoining fields to make use of within the expressway. “We did the land acquisition in record time. The compensation amount to farmers was transferred digitally and not a single cheque was issued to any individual,” he stated.
Land acquisition is pending on two stretches in Gujarat, however, officers say they count on getting the whole land in two months. “We have January 2023 as the deadline for the entire stretch and there will be no compromise,” stated an official.
Officials are planning expressway work with drones. “We are monitoring all aspects of construction, including the quality of construction, plantation and wayside amenities. Monthly drone videos are also used for monitoring apart from the ‘data lake’ portal and other means,” NHAI chairman S S Sandhu stated.
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