No Progress Road: NPR to miss second deadline

HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Gurgaon, December 03, 2012

Eight months after it missed its first deadline, the much-hyped Rs. 57 crore Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) project is still struggling to reach the finish line even as the second deadline looms round the corner. The 18-km-long road, also known as Dwarka Expressway, is bound to miss the

December 31 completion deadline — thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda).

The 150-metre-wide road will connect Dwarka in Delhi and Kherki Daula on NH-8.

Of the 18-km stretch, the bituminous work is complete hardly on eight km area. Moreover, a four-km stretch is entangled in a legal dispute.

"We still have 28 days and we hope to complete at least five km. I have asked the contractor to speed up the work and complete the stretch by end of the month," said Pankaj Kumra, chief engineer, Huda, the custodian authority of the project.

When questioned about the reason for the delay, the chief engineer said, "The contractors are facing law-and-order problems on the NPR, mainly on the portion under litigation. The workers are having difficulty as many houses and establishments have not been removed for the work.”

The delay has shattered the dreams of tens of thousands of buyers and builders whose money is invested in hundreds of projects coming up along the NPR. The project was awarded to JSR Construction Pvt Ltd and Indiabulls Construction Limited on April 1, 2011 and its first deadline was March 31, 2012.

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