Delhi roads are expected to witness a considerable decrease in traffic congestion this year with the Centre and the Haryana Government promising to deliver ‘both’ the arterial expressways — Eastern Peripheral Expressway, diverting Delhi traffic from Ghaziabad to Palwal via Greater Noida, and the Western Peripheral Expressway, diverting Capital traffic from Kundli to Palwal via Manesar, latest by June.

Earlier, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) was scheduled for completion by January 26 this year but missed the deadline. Now it is slated for completion in March 2018. As regards the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), the project was to complete by February 2019. But with work on in full swing, the concessionaire has assured to deliver the project by June 2018.

The EPE alone is expected to cut Delhi’s traffic burden by about two lakh vehicles. The Manesar-Palwal section of WPE has already commenced and by June 2018, the completion of the Kundli-Manesar section will cut down a significant load of Delhi-bound commercial traffic, thereby easing congestion and pollution level as well.

The information forms part of the latest status report submitted to the Supreme Court by the Monitoring Committee supervising the construction of the two Expressways. The Bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta has sought a further status report on both projects by April this year. The concern seems to be about the availability of funds.

While the work on WPE by Essel Infraprojects Limited is 65 per cent complete, the total project cost is Rs 1,863 crore.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) - the nodal agency for the project has incurred a total expenditure of Rs 1,562.74 crore towards land acquisition, shifting/relocation of utilities, and diversion of forest land up to January 31, 2018. Meanwhile, the Haryana Government has estimated that the cost of land acquisition could escalate to over Rs 2,788.98 crore.

Similar is the situation with the EPE. This project is being run by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) that has awarded the contract along the entire project length of 135 kilometres to six different contractors. The total cost towards land acquisition alone for the project is Rs 5349.12 crore.

Both EPE and WPE are funded from a Central pool where Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh have to contribute in the ratio 50:25:25. Till date, Delhi has deposited only Rs 653.50 crore with the balance of Rs 3,415.55 crore remaining to be paid. Even UP has to pay Rs 1,137.14 crore towards its share. As regards Haryana, the State will be reimbursed from the Central pool based on the expenses it incurs on land acquisition from time to time.

As of now, a total of Rs 937.92 crore has been released to NHAI towards land acquisition cost for EPE. It faces an additional requirement of Rs 4,411.20 crore from the Central Pool. However, the good news is that the average progress on EPE is almost 90 per cent with the project expected for completion on March 11, 2018.