more-in The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) is expected to be ready ahead of deadline and could be made operational this year, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate N. P Singh said. After it was delayed by several years due to land acquisition problems, the Supreme Court had fixed a deadline of July 2018 for the project. The 135km-long expressway was announced in 2006 following a Supreme Court order to form a ring road outside Delhi for traffic not bound for the Capital. Relief for Delhi The EPE will connect Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Gautam Budh Nagar (Greater Noida) and Palwal. “The Supreme Court had fixed a deadline of July 2018, but we are expecting to complete it by this year,” EPE project director Kishore Kanyal told The Hindu. The project is expected to divert two lakh vehicles from entering the Capital daily. The vehicles will will be diverted from Ghaziabad to Gautam Budh Nagar, Faridabad, and Palwal and finally towards Manesar. Mr. Singh said that the UP government had been struggling with acquiring land for the project. “The land issues were pending for EPE since 2009. After 2015, we organised several round of meetings with the concerned authorities, the NHAI and farmers. The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority was offering ?3,500 per square metre while acquisition rate for the project was just ?850 per sqm. So, farmers were opposing. We finally fixed the standard rate of land at ?3,500 per sqm,” said Mr. Singh. Compensation granted “We have already distributed compensation amount to over 75% of the farmers, and will complete the process in a couple of months,” said Mr. Singh. The project has already been delayed by several years. The Centre is monitoring the progress of the project with Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reviewing the project. PM monitoring project “Since the monitoring of project is done by the PM, we at Uttar Pradesh government are swiftly clearing all hurdles at state level to ensure its timely completion,” a senior UP government official said, on the condition of anonymity. “The EPE accounts for half of the peripheral road around Delhi along with the Western Peripheral Expressway, also around 135 kms long, which is being implemented by the Haryana government,” the official said.

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