The redevelopment of Southern Peripheral Road (SPR), which will include the construction of eight flyovers, footpaths and cycle tracks, is likely to be complete only by mid 2025.
According to GMDA officials, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar — who is also the chairman of the authority — gave his approval for the project last week, and it is expected to require two and a half years for completion. GMDA will now be working towards floating tenders for the project and allotting work, a process that is expected to take “four to five months”, they said.
“The project got the nod from the chairman during the authority meeting on Friday. We will now be floating tenders inviting bids for the work, which will subsequently be allotted. It is likely to take at least four to five months for this process to be completed,” said a senior GMDA official.
“So, work on the ground is likely to start next year. The deadline for the project is two and a half years at present, so the revamped stretch will be opened to commuters by mid 2025 at the earliest,” said the official.
The project to upgrade SPR has been on the cards since March 2019, when GMDA first proposed converting the stretch between Ghata village and Vatika Chowk, also known as Golf Course Road (Extension), into a signal-free stretch. The project has been reworked multiple times since then, with GMDA in December, proposing the construction of five flyovers along the 6km road.
Khattar, at the time, had directed officials to extend the project up to NH-8, allowing it to cover all of SPR instead of only the Golf Course Road (Extension) portion.
Consequently, in the tenth authority meeting on Friday, officials had put a reworked proposal on the table, that entailed constructing eight flyovers along the stretch. The proposal, which was approved, involves the construction of a six-lane main carriageway with three lanes on either side and six-lane service roads (three lanes on each side) on both sides of the carriageway. It also includes the construction of 3-metre-wide footpaths and 2.5-metre-wide cycle tracks on each side of the service road, as well as the development of green belts along the stretch.
The critical 12km road connects three national highways — NH-8, Gurugram -Alwar expressway and Gurugram -Mehrauli expressway. It is also expected to provide connectivity to the Dwarka Expressway through a cloverleaf interchange that is currently under construction. Officials expect, furthermore, that once Dwarka Expressway and Sohna road are made operational by National Highways Authority of India, traffic on SPR is likely to see a huge increase.
Apart from its role in enabling movement between highways, SPR itself also houses several commercial parks, IT parks, shopping complexes, schools, colleges, as well as residential societies. The Rs 845.5-crore project is to be implemented with Rs 549.3 crore collected as external development charges and Rs 296.2 crore arranged from developers. The remainder will be raised by GMDA.
Source : TOI
