GDA To Control Land Along Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Delhi-Meerut Expressway

The perfect planning with which large-scale infrastructure projects are implemented is often spoiled by the mushrooming of illegal structures alongside. Anticipating the arrival of, say, new airports, unauthorised structures mushroom in the vicinity. The same is true of expressways, bridges, flyovers, etc. These unwanted structures, by way of playing a spoilsport in a project’s perfect planning, also deteriorate its value. With an aim to not let the same not happen along the newly opened Eastern Peripheral Highway and the Delhi Meerut Expressway, the National Capital Region Planning Board has asked the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to acquire 500 metre on both sides of the two expressways.

After a government notification is issued in this regard, the GDA would have in its control the market land, spread through several villages, and would be responsible for its development. Offending parties would be dealt under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning & Development Act, 1973.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26 opened for the public the EPE, India's first highway to be lit by solar power.  Built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore, the access-controlled six-lane expressway provides entry and exit designated interchanges only. It has 406 structures of which 4 are major bridges, 46 minor bridges, three flyovers, seven inter-changes and 221 underpasses. The EPE also has provisions of rainwater harvesting and showcases 36 national monuments and 40 fountains.

On the same day, the PM also inaugurated Phase-I of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Built at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore, the expressway, stretching from Nizamuddin Bridge to the Delhi-UP Border, Is a 14-lane access-controlled stretch.

With inputs from Housing News