Held Up For Nine Years, Delhi Western Peripheral Expressway To Finally Open By August

Several deadlines and nine years after its original deadline, the Kundli-Palwal-Manesar Expressway (KMP Expressway), also known as the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE) that bypasses the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi on its western edge will finally be complete by the end of August, reports The Tribune.

The 136 km-long expressway was caught under numerous controversies and litigation and remained hanging in the balance till 2014 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Haryana came to power. State Public Works Minister Rao Narbir Singh said that work was on to open the expressway by 15 August.

The 134 km-long Easter Peripheral Expressway (EPE), also known as National Expressway 2 (NE2) that complements the WPE was opened to public in May this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, days after its inauguration, miscreants vandalised the expressway and stole solar panels. Together, both expressways form a 270 km-long beltway or Ring Road for the NCT.

The WPE passes through five districts of Haryana – Sonepat, Jhajjar, Nuh, Gurugram and Palwal and connect four national highways – Delhi-Ambala-Amritsar, Delhi-Agra-Varanasi, Delhi-Ahmedabad-Mumbai and Delhi to the India-Pakistan border at Attari-Wagah.

A 53 km stretch connecting Manesar and Palwal was opened in 2016.

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