Gurugram has become the millennium city and can compete against any world class city. Be it flyovers or underpasses, malls or plush multistoried buildings Gurugram scores high on all of them. The Metro is there, the best of hospitals are there, MNC’s are there and the best of hotels are there. Gurugram certainly has it all.
Here Haryana CM Manohar lal Khatter answers some questions on why Gurugram will become a smart city soon.
QUESTION: The growth in Gurugram has been dramatic over the last two decades. But has the city suffered from a lack of planning?
ANSWER:Planning is more effective when it is done at the concept stage. I think there may have been some shortcomings in planning at that time. But despite those shortcomings, the city expanded and it expanded in a way that the planners might not have expected. But today, because of its proximity to Delhi and the international airport and with increase in the scope of development in India, people have started coming to Gurugram.
Offices of more than 200 of the Fortune 500 companies are located in Gurugram. I don’t think any other city in India can boast of this.
When so much development happened, shortcomings started becoming visible. We have started working on it at full speed. For instance, underpasses at National Highway 8 were proposed, planned and started. Consequently, the traffic situation at Rajiv Gandhi Chowk and Signature Tower has improved.
I have recently inaugurated the Hero Honda flyover and the flyover at Manesar. The work at IFFCO Chowk is almost complete. Some of it is held up because a petrol pump located there can’t be removed due to a stay from the court. That’s why one of its carriageways is not complete. I have also recently laid the foundation stone at AtulKatariaChowk. So all the traffic bottlenecks have been taken care of.
But there’s still work to be done. We want to expand the Metro further, especially to Old Gurugram. The planning is on and mapping is being done. We want to connect Dwarka Sector 21 with the Metro so that west Delhi gets integrated with Gurugram.
Similarly, Dwarka Expressway is a big project costing ₹7,000 crore. The land near a colony in PalamVihar had to be acquired. There were 60-65 flats and 35-40 of them are left to be acquired. The rest have got a stay from the court. But I hope the stay will be lifted and we will give them alternative plots. When Dwarka Expressway is ready and Metro is connected, Gurugram’s traffic problems will be solved.
RERA (Real Estate Regulation Authority) has started functioning for real estate problems. It has two units. One is for Gurugram and another for Haryana, which is based in Panchkula.
A new development will be a global city project spread over 1,200 acres. The KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway) should start in two months, paving the way for an economic corridor. Many of our plans have been successful and the rest are being taken gradually.
The biggest achievement was starting Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA). Earlier, Gurugram was managed from Chandigarh. Now, all problems of Gurugram will be solved in the city itself.
Will the concentration of people and offices in sectors near Delhi further spread out when the global city is ready?
It will go up to Manesar. And after the KMP and Dwarka Expressway is ready, traffic from there won’t have to pass through Gurugram.
When will the Dwarka and KMP expressways be ready for use?
We have requested the Prime Minister to lay the foundation stone for the Dwarka Expressway. It can be done even remotely. If that happens soon, the road can be ready in six to eight months.
KMP will not take more than three months. I recently did an aerial survey of KMP starting from Kundli. There are six or seven patches or cross-sections which have to be completed. There is no problem of acquisition there.
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