NEW DELHI: Close to four lakh metric tonnes of garbage will be used in the construction of Urban Extension Road (UER) II, which authorities also describe as the third ring road of the national capital. Officials said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to provide 4 lakh tonnes of garbage for the UER stretch that will be developed into two phases.The national highway construction agency has written a letter to the chief engineer of the civic body asking about the availability of the huge amount of waste.
“The requirement of the garbage will be fulfilled from the existing landfill sites in Delhi. The corporation is planning to utilize the garbage from the Okhla landfill site for the project,” a senior MCD official said.
The official also said that the garbage has been used in the construction of roads previously as it is believed that it provides strength to the structure when mixed with Bitumen.Around 60 lakh metric tonnes of waste was also used by the NHAI in the construction of the upcoming Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, they added.
Conceptualized by the Delhi Development Authority in the year 2000, the UER II was envisioned as a component of Delhi’s 2021 Master Plan.However, the project was abandoned due to difficulties with land acquisition, and funding was later handed over to the NHAI in 2018. The DDA would now offer Rs 4,000 crores in viability gap funding.
The 75 km long stretch will comprise 6 lanes (main expressway) and 4 lanes (spurs) wide access-controlled expressway in Delhi NCR. It would start from the National Highway-44 near Bankoli village and passes through the villages of Karala, Bakkarwala, and Najafgarh and terminates at Dwarka sector 21 near IGI Airport, the project details mentioned on NHAI’s website stated.
Officials said that the UER II will facilitate vehicles to go from West Delhi to South Delhi via the outskirts of Delhi.wThe stretch will also allow people to travel faster between Gurugram and IGI Airport. Apart from this, the journey between Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu-Kashmir will also become easier.