Dwarka Expressway: Nitin Gadkari Breaks His Silence Over CAG Report

The Dwarka Expressway connecting Delhi to Haryana stirs controversy over cost escalation in the construction of the Highway.

According to the Comptroller Auditor General of India (CAG) report, the construction cost of the expressway was escalated to Rs 251 crore per km from Rs 18.2 crore per km. However, the government disprove the claims.

The report submitted by the CAG revealed the 29.06-km expressway was built at a "very high" cost of Rs 250.77 crore per km, far beyond the Rs 18.2 crore per km that was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and sanctioned by the Road Ministry without a detailed project report (DPR).

But as per a media report, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed that Dwarka Expressway was not 29 kilometres long as mentioned in the CAG report, but around 230 kilometres long that included the flyovers, elevated roads, underpasses, tunnels and ring roads that contribute significantly to the overall construction cost which was not included in the CAG report.

However, Gadkari expressed his annoyance towards the CAG officials who raised queries about the cost escalation in spite of the clarification made by him. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways further claimed that the government saved over 12 percent in the construction cost against estimates.

Sources from The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways reportedly alleged that the CAG figures lack proper context as all four contracts for the Dwarka Expressway were put out for tender at an average civil cost of Rs 206.39 crore per kilometre. And finally, the contracts were given at a substantially reduced rate of Rs 181.94 crore per km, which means the government saved a 12% reduction from the estimates.

Union Minister Gadkari said the Dwarka Expressway, India's first eight-lane elevated expressway connecting Delhi to Gurgaon will be opened to the public in the next 3-4 months.

Everything You Need To Know About Dwarka Expressway

The four-pack motorway with a length of 563 kilometres, stretches between Shiv Murti on National Highway 8 to Gurugram's Kherki Daula toll plaza.

The distance between Manesar to Dwarka and Indira Gandhi International Airport will significantly reduce after the construction of the Expressway.

Gadkari captioned the video of the Expressway on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Marvel of Engineering: The Dwarka Expressway! A State-of-the-Art Journey into the Future."

According to the video, it will take 15 minutes to travel from Dwarka to Manesar, 20 minutes from Manesar to Indira Gandhi International Airport, 25 minutes from Dwarka to Singhu border and 45 minutes from Manesar to Singhu border. The project will also strengthen the connectivity of the International Convention Centre in Dwarka, Sector 25.

The cost of Rs 91,000 crore for 5,000 km under the Bharatmala Phase-I project was finalised by the ministry on August 10, 2016, for the year 2016-17 to the extent possible.

The expressway was built using two lakh tonnes of steel, which is 30 times more than what was used to build the Eiffel Tower. Moreover, 20 lakh cubic meters of cement concrete, which is six times more than was used for the Burj Khalifa, were used for the project.