The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given the green light for a 6-lane road tunnel project in Delhi. This tunnel, spanning 8.1 km and costing Rs 6,969.67 crore, will link the Dwarka Expressway with Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, on a hybrid annuity mode. The aim is to enhance connectivity between west and south Delhi, benefiting areas like Gurugram, Dwarka, IGI Airport, and West Delhi.
The underground twin-tube tunnel is designed to minimize surface disruptions, particularly preserving the Southern Ridge Forest as a section of the tunnel passes beneath it. Additionally, the NHAI plans to construct an elevated corridor between AIIMS and Mahipalpur, connecting the tunnel to the Barapullah elevated road. This connection will facilitate smoother travel between west and south Delhi and east Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Noida.
The proposed tunnel route will traverse the Rangpuri Ridge in southern Delhi, with a twin-tube design to be constructed using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). Starting from the Shivmurti Interchange, the tunnel will end before the intersection of Nelson Mandela Marg and Mahipalpur-Chhatarpur Road. To address congestion at this intersection, plans include a 1.8 km elevated road along Nelson Mandela Marg, an additional flyover from Chhatarpur towards Mahipalpur, and an elevated U-turn for right-turn traffic towards Chhatarpur.
The main carriageway’s length is 6.3 km, but with the proposed flyover and elevated U-turn along Mahipalpur-Chhatarpur Road, the total project length extends to 8.1 km. This includes various sections such as the tunnel, tunnel approach ramp, elevated portions, and at-grade road. The project is expected to create significant employment opportunities, with each lane-kilometer of the highway development generating direct and indirect employment. It is estimated that the project will lead to around 7.54 lakh person-days of direct employment and 9.80 lakh person-days of indirect employment, along with additional job prospects due to increased economic activity in the corridor’s vicinity.
