Gurgaon: The construction of a service road along the Gurgaon-Pataudi-Rewari Highway near Harsaru village is facing hindrance due to an unremoved portion of a stormwater drain, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said.
This 500-metre section of the master drain — located between sectors 88A and 88B — falls in the proposed service road of NH-352W.
NHAI officials said despite repeated requests to GMDA and the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) for demolition for nearly a year, only partial work was completed, letting the drain be an "impediment" for the service road construction.
"We have been asking the GMDA and HSVP to clear the way for the service road construction on the right side. While most of the Wazirpur-Rewari section was completed, the service road on this section continues to hinder progress," an NHAI official said.
With 60% of the work complete, NHAI aims to finish the 43-km Gurgaon-Pataudi-Rewari national highway by March 2025.
However, delays in clearing the storm drain could push back this target date.
"If it's not removed, it definitely will affect the completion of the project," the NHAI official said.
In Oct last year, a joint inspection was carried out by NHAI, GMDA and HSVP and it was decided to dismantle the storm drain to facilitate road construction.
GMDA officials have conceded the delay in the demolition of the drain causing an impediment in the construction of the service road.
They remain hopeful that HSVP will finish the remaining demolition work within the next 15 days.
"There was some delay because of rains and an annual construction ban. While the HSVP cleared the top slab and side wall, work on the bottom slab is pending, which, we hope, will be complete within 15 days," a GMDA official said.
This service road will be connected to the Dwarka Expressway and create a streamlined link to the Gurugram-Pataudi-Rewari Highway.
The construction of a 180 m, two-lane flyover unidirectional on Dwarka Expressway that will connect to the NH-352W is already underway.
The unidirectional flyover will provide direct connectivity for traffic headed to Rewari from Delhi or Gurgaon through the Dwarka Expressway.
Traffic coming from SPR or Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will use the left turn near Sector 88A through the service road.
The project was conceived in 2018 when the govt decided to upgrade the two-lane state highway into a four-lane national highway.
The project, estimated to cost Rs 900 crore, was originally scheduled for completion in Dec 2022.
Its foundation stone was laid in July 2020 by the Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari.
However, the construction, which started only in Nov 2021 with a fresh deadline of two years, was stalled in Sept 2022 after the National Green Tribunal intervened, following an appeal by environmentalists over the forest clearance granted for the project.
The petitioners raised concerns about the compensatory afforestation plan, arguing that planting trees 300 kilometres away in Panchkula would not restore the green cover lost within the highway's construction area.
In April last year, the Supreme Court allowed the NHAI to resume work on the project, which was also deterred by rains and a ban on construction activities to curb pollution, but mandated that compensatory afforestation be conducted within the city to offset its environmental impact.