Pipeline work under Dwarka e-way to get NHAI nod in a week News Air Insight

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to grant approval to the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) for laying a master water pipeline under the Dwarka expressway within a week, said officials on Friday, adding that GMDA had earlier assured NHAI that all steps would be taken to ensure zero damage to the expressway.

A senior NHAI official said that NHAI had stopped the work of laying the pipeline two months earlier after cavities were formed on the Central Peripheral road, which is part of the Dwarka expressway.

“GMDA’s CEO has taken up the matter with the senior authorities of NHAI and assured that all steps will be taken to ensure there is no damage to the road. The permission to construct the pipeline will be given by next week,” said a senior NHAI official.

GMDA officials said that the 1,600 mm master pipeline was originally laid by Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in 2012, running from Chandu Budhera to Dhankot, then along the Dwarka Expressway and CPR to the Sector 72 station. However, officials said that during realignment of the road by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in 2022, the entire pipeline was laid again except for a 300 metres stretch near CPR in Sector 36, where it could not be laid due to land issues.

“The underground pipes are being laid to fix this missing link. Due to lack of connectivity, our water infrastructure laid from Sector 58 to Sector 80 is lying defunct. The authority has spent over ₹500 crore on this infrastructure and it will become functional once the entire pipe line gets connected,” said a GMDA official.

PC Meena, CEO, GMDA, said that laying the master pipeline under the Dwarka expressway was a crucial project, as it would boost the entire water supply network in sectors along SPR. “This work will be taken up on priority and I have asked the GMDA chief engineer to complete this work at the earliest,” he said.