Highways are the lifelines for any city. And they are also the backbone of the country’s economy. At least 70% of Indian freight is still carried by road. Yet road projects in India are often delayed, at times by as many as 7-10 years. Take the case of the KMP Expressway. The authorities took nearly a decade to construct just a 52-kilometer stretch.

PART OF KMP E-WAY OPENS

The 153-kilometer long KMP expressway has been under construction since 2006. The six-lane access controlled expressway was conceived to decongest Delhi’s roads and control air pollution in the region. After missing several deadlines due to land acquisition issues and trouble with contractors, the BJP government finally managed to get the 52-kilometer Manesar-Palwal stretch of the KMP Expressway operational.

DEVELOPERS BREATHE EASY

Even if it is just one third of the entire stretch, developers with projects along the stretch are a happy lot. “It is great news for us. The KMP crosses us just by a kilometer ahead. The completion shows that infra that was promised many years ago is falling into place. It sends a positive sentiment in the market and real estate wise it also makes a difference as it opens up the markets bit more,” says Anubhav Jain, director of Silverglades.

Other prominent players in the Gurgaon-New Gurgaon belt like the Vatika Group are also expecting to reap the benefits of the expressway. “Vatika India Next is within 15 minutes from the KMP. More industries will now come up and many people would look for better living options. What better place than ours,” says Anupam Varshney, assistant vice-president of sales & marketing at the Vatika Group.

E-WAY TO SAVE TRAVEL TIME

The KMP Expressway is expected to drastically cut down the commuting time for vehicles coming from Jaipur towards Faridabad or Agra. Similarly, vehicles heading towards Jaipur and Mumbai from Agra or Kolkata will save at least a couple of hours as they will no longer have to go via Delhi.

PROPERTY PRICES TO SEE A BOOM

Real estate agents operating in the region expect property prices to go up by 15-20 per cent in the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal stretch once the entire stretch is ready by June next year. “There are a lot of unoccupied inventory in this belt. There is enough supply from TDI who has a TDI City, Ansal , Mapsko. In the Manesar area you have DLF, ABP and Silverglades and Piyush and Omaxe in Palwal. And most of these projects are delivered. With the expressway delivered I think now people will move in. And once is entire unoccupied inventory gets occupied, in the next six to 12 months more projects might be launched.” claims Sahil Kapoor, executive director at Remax India,

TOP FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT KMP EXPRESSWAY

· The opened stretch will connect Manesar to Palwal
· For the first two months, users won’t have to pay any toll for using this 52 km access-control expressway stretch.
· After two months, cars will have to pay Rs 1.3 per km while heavy vehicles will have to pay Rs 4.5 per km as toll charges.
· Four toll plazas have been built to ensure that commuters pay for the stretch they travel, rather than paying for the entire corridor.

Reporter: Oineetom Ojha, NDTV
Web Editor: Nikhil Sivadas, NDTV