KMP expected to be complete within two months: Haryana government

The long wait for the Kundli Manesar Palwal (KMP) Expressway and Dwarka Expressway may finally get over. While KMP will be ready in two months, work on the Dwarka Expressway is expected to be over in the next 18 months, Haryana government officials said.

The KMP will be completed in the next two months, said Captain Abhimanyu Singh, Haryana finance minister.

Terming the Dwarka Expressway issue a 'tricky' one at a Naredco conference held in Gurugram recently, Singh said, “We gave a commitment that even if additional enhanced compensation is required to be given to all owners of land on the side of Delhi, we are ready to bear part of the additional burden. At the last meeting, the issue that came up was that because the owners are not the actual owners on record but power-of-attorney holders, who will you give this money to?"

Gurugram Metropolitam Development Authority (GMDA) CEO V Umashankar said National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will start construction of the remaining patches of Dwarka Expressway this week onwards. “The survey is done. After some patches of land are acquired, the expressway is expected to take another 18 months,” he said.

On the issue of Metro connectivity, Umashankar said, “Metro connectivity is still a bit of an issue. Hopefully we will ensure that it gets done. We are currently in the stage of detailed project report.”

As for the regional rapid transit system (RRTS), he said, “This week, RRTS alignment leading out of Gurugram has more or less been done. We can start moving with RRTS this year itself.”

EDC and IDC

The government has spent more on Gurugram than it has collected from external development charges, and that problem has occurred on account of land acquisition. Close to Rs 16,000 crore has been paid out on land acquisition alone in the last six years, the officials said.

“The government and the public have invested more money on infrastructure in the city than the developers. We have also compromised on interests of other parts of Haryana and focussed on development of Gurugram,” said the minister.

“In 2017-18, the collection of stamp duty increased from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore. In this additional Rs 1,000 crore, the share of Gurugram stands at Rs 300 crore whereas the rest of Haryana contributed Rs 700 crore,” he said.

While making a presentation before the council of ministers last year, V Umashankar had said the problem of EDC needs to be resolved, else GMDA will be a non-starter. “If it is take charge of infrastructure development, then the funding element of it has to come through EDC. One proposal that I had floated was that of enhancement of EDC for land acquisition, but the government took the stance that the sector is not doing well and should therefore not be burdened,” he said.

Optical fibre network across the city

Yet another problem authorities are trying to resolve is that of connectivity. “This means both physical and digital connectivity. We have evolved our own model of fiberizing the city. Optical fiber network across the city is being laid out. This will be used to carry a set of smart city services. Work by two agencies is likely to start within a month. The pilot phase gets completed in a month and the full phase in one year. By next year, we would be able to see a fiberized Gurugram. This will include Manesar too,” he added.