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Urban Extension Road: PM Modi urges NHAI to complete Delhi ring road
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to complete the second phase of Delhi's Urban Extension Road (UER-II), which will serve as a third Ring Road, by 15 August 2023.
He also asked the cabinet secretary to prepare dossiers of such works within one week and identify the individuals and agencies responsible for the delays, according to government officials, citing the issue of delays in the completion of important infrastructure projects.
The PM was presiding over the 37th PRAGATI meeting, an ICT-based platform for timely project delivery with central government secretaries and state chief secretaries.
The 75.71 km NH project, according to the NHAI, will make driving from Dwarka in Delhi to the Delhi-Chandigarh highway seamless. The Delhi government approved tree transplants and felling for the project last week.
All five project packages have been awarded by the NHAI, and construction is expected to begin by the end of September.
The media reported that PM referred to the dossiers after assessing two railway projects during the 37th edition of PRAGATI – a new railway line connecting Bhanupuli, Bilaspur, and Bari, and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC).
The construction of the new railway line began in 2008 and is expected to cost roughly Rs 2000 crore.
Previously, in 2016, the proposal was up for consideration. Its price tag has now risen to almost Rs 6,000 crore. In a similar vein, the government's flagship WDFC project has been postponed.
Modi has already ordered government departments to assign blame for project execution delays, which result in not only schedule overruns but also cost increases.
According to reports in the media, the PM also encouraged state chief secretaries to speed up the completion of oxygen plants in hospitals and to strive for an oxygen supply link to each bed. He urged them to keep an eye on hospital bed availability.
In a statement, the PMO explained that when assessing the One Nation – One Ration Card (ONORC) plan, he ordered state government officials to look into the various uses of the technical platform built as part of the scheme to guarantee that citizens receive a wide range of advantages.
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