The Dwarka Expressway

Dwarka - the name itself instills the feeling of 'progress and development' in our minds. The advent of Delhi Metro and its Airport Express Line (running between New Delhi railway station to Dwarka Sector-21 via the Airport) has added to the comfort reach and approachability of Dwarkites.

Several Dwarkites take the Airport line almost daily to reach their homes/ travel to Dhaula Kuan – to save time and the commute is comfortable.

Long forgotten are the painful days of reaching the sub-city and the airport which was at that time not only chaotic but also very mismanaged. Now Delhi enjoys world class services in a world class airport.

Nevertheless the options of DTC, RTVs, auto rickshaws abound.

Dwarka line takes you directly all the way to NOIDA, soon the Gurgaon connectivity and onwards to Manesar is also in the pipeline. So there is more good news in store for Dwarkites.

There is other side to the story also: I request the reader's attention to – much hyped - Dwarka Expressway which is expected to provide direct connectivity Dwarka – Gurgaon – Manesar.

You would have read an advertisement, received an email or an SMS which goes like: Direct connectivity to Gurgaon, On the main metro corridor, hurry up to avail huge inaugural discounts, attractive gifts with each booking etc. The gullible investor falls into the trap of Letter of Intent (LOI), proposed Metro station, catch phrases like 'Expressway' etc. without realizing the fact that practically a PROPOSED PROJECT CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT BE SOLD AS USP simply because THERE IS NO SURETY.

Dwarka Expressway is the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) - which is being encashed by so many builders, who already have projects lined up on the stretch, mostly on the Gurgaon side, by using investors and public money. But, Alas! the reality is quite different and yet distant.

The investors and genuine buyers should exercise due care and caution before parking their hard earned money and/or taking loans. Always confirm with the concerned authorities before investing anywhere – because still most of the things are on paper, not finalized and only PROPOSED.

There are certain stretches of disputed land in the proposed corridor – which might delay the completion of the expressway, even further. In fact these reasons have earned this corridor bad publicity and in the news - owing to pending litigations from residents and industrialists.

As per my understanding, out of about total 18 kilometers, the state government has only 12.5 kilometers free of litigation. According to records, out of total 661 acres to be built as the expressway, only about 26 acres in distributed locations - is under stay from courts. Even this less than ten percent has blocked the work on more than one-third of the project.

The NPR is no doubt a pet project because it will decongest Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway specially at the Delhi Gurgaon toll plaza which witnesses hug traffic jams daily owing to more than expected traffic volume.

Obviously, the sooner the NPR gets complete approvals and the proposed housing projects are made available to the investors/buyers, this additional supply will balance the demand-supply mismatch and probably result in correction of the property prices in the adjoining areas like - Sohna Road, Golf Course Extension Road, Pataudi Road and similarly in the adjoining sectors on the Dwarka side.

When the completion work of the expressway has remained stopped for almost 5 years now, then it makes all the sense to WAIT and WATCH, rather then adopting herd mentality.

The views in the above article are my personal. Reader discretion and own judgement is advised prior to investing anywhere.