Barapullah Phase III Set for September 29 Opening After Nine Missed Deadlines

Delhi's long-delayed Barapullah Phase III corridor is set to be inaugurated on September 29, PWD Minister Parvesh Verma announced on Saturday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will open the corridor in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

"For more than a decade, Delhi has been waiting for this project to become a reality. The long-pending work has now been completed and the corridor is ready to be opened for the people of Delhi," Verma said after inspecting the site.

The announcement follows the missing of nine deadlines over nine years. Less than three months ago, Verma had said the corridor would be ready for inauguration by June 30 this year. That deadline too passed with work still pending.

A Decade in the Making

The project was approved in 2014 and construction began in 2015, with an original completion target of 2017. The timeline was pushed back repeatedly due to land acquisition issues, tree-related clearances, construction work around the Yamuna, and the Covid pandemic.

The completion schedule continued to shift this year as well. In January, officials said the project could take another 15 months. Two months later, the Delhi government approved a revised cost of around Rs 1,635 crore and set June 30 as the deadline, which was subsequently missed.

Cost Escalation and Probe

The project's cost, initially pegged at around Rs 1,260 crore, has risen by more than Rs 370 crore to about Rs 1,635 crore. The delays and cost overruns have also drawn scrutiny, with the Delhi Anti-Corruption Branch registering a case earlier this year over alleged irregularities linked to the project. The allegations are under investigation.

Connectivity and Features

Once opened, the 3.5-km corridor will connect Mayur Vihar Phase I in East Delhi with Sarai Kale Khan. It will join the existing Barapullah corridor at Sarai Kale Khan, providing a largely signal-free link towards AIIMS and other parts of South Delhi. The combined corridor will stretch for around 9 km.

PWD officials said both ramps of the elevated corridor have been completed — one connecting from the Mayur Vihar side and the other linking with the existing Barapullah stretch near Sarai Kale Khan. The bridge across the Yamuna has also been completed. The project includes a dedicated cycle track and pedestrian facilities.