The construction of two phases of Delhi-Meerut Expressway is nearing completion, but the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is yet to decide whether to use the municipal solid waste from the Ghazipur landfill as embankment material.
According to a report accessed by City Spidey, NHAI claims to have completed 95 per cent of the stretch from Ghazipur to the UP border, and 50 per cent of the length from Dasna to Hapur.
A senior official from NHAI said, “A 9-km stretch from Ghazipur to the UP border, which is under the first phase of the expressway, will be completed by March 15. Construction of another stretch of the same expressway from Dasna to Hapur will be completed in the next 15 months.”
But the solid municipal waste from the Ghazipur landfill has not been used even on an experimental basis, confirmed the official. He added, “Yes, a proposal was tabled in this direction, but a final decision is pending.”
A study conducted by the Central Road and Research Institute (CRRI) had in 2015 reported that the solid waste of Ghazipur could be utilised for road construction as an experiment. On the basis of CRRI’s report, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and NHAI in November 2016.
When a portion of the Ghazipur landfill collapsed on September 1 last year leading to fatalities, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) slammed NHAI for unnecessarily delaying the project. NHAI had, at the time, confirmed to the tribunal that it would start transporting the the Ghazipur landfill municipal waste from November 2017.
In fact, NHAI had told the court that it had invited bids to hire private agencies for waste separation at the site and also its transportation.
When City Spidey spoke to PK Khandelwal, chief engineer of EDMC, he said, “We have not received any message from NHAI regarding this matter. I know that NHAI had earlier invited bids for hiring a private agency, but things could not be finalised.”
When City Spidey spoke to BS Singhla, a senior official in NHAI associated with the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project, he said, “CRRI’s report said that there’s a ‘possibility’ of using Ghazipur’s solid waste. It had also mentioned in its report that it can be used as an experiment. We will experiment with the solid waste for making embankments on a stretch of 2 km. So we can’t commit to anything at this point.”
