Faiyaz Sultan

The traffic woes of residents in satellite townships in Indirapuram and Ghaziabad could be over soon. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (NORTH) has decided to expedite in two years the proposal of upgrading the two-lane NH-24 to eight lanes beyond Nizamuddin bridge through Indirapuram and Ghazipur till Dasna.

So far, a part of Delhi-Meerut Expressway project, which comes under the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) Phase VI, the 18-kilometre stretch from Nizamuddin bridge to Dasna would now be taken as a separate project immediately. Minister of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath took a meeting on the small package last week and decided to take it separately to ease traffic congestion on NH-24.

According to sources, the Ministry has decided to fund the 18-km stretch itself and not have an access-control tolled highway. A senior official said, “This is a small stretch and we found that it would not be feasible to take it up on Build-Operate-Toll (BOT) basis. Our studies show that we would have to do it on BOT-annuity or EPC methods, which basically mean fund the entire project on our own.” The total project cost would work out to Rs 150-200 crore.

Sources said that Nath is keen on upgrading this NH-24 stretch to six or eight lane highway because of the traffic jams. “There is land available on either side of the highway. So space is not a constraint. Nizamuddin bridge side is already being widened and there is ample space on either side of NH-24 from Mayur Vihar-II, Ghazipur, Indirapur-am till Dasna. We can easily do this stretch and ease the traffic load of the residents who are traveling to Delhi every day,” a senior official said.

In some stretches there could be a space constraint. So the Ministry could upgrade the highway to six lanes and not eight.

 Ian Fleming’s dazzling show on James Bond and the car that captured millions of hearts is now on India’s Door step. This car is set up to flame the errotic roads of India by the end of this year, it might be expensive deal as rumors are that the car might carry 3 core tag.

According to sources close to the development, Aston Martin has signed an agreement with Mumbai-based Infinity Cars, which is also a dealer of BMW, and appointed it as the company’s exclusive distributor for the Indian market.

“Infinity will open the booking process for Aston Martin from next week. The cars are likely to be delivered in the next 5-6 months,” a source said.

Aston Martin will initially sell four models — V8, DB9, Rapide and DBS — in India and the ex-showroom prices have almost been finalised, sources added.

“While V8 and DB9 will come for Rs 1.35 crore and Rs 1.9 crore, Rapide and DBS will be offered for Rs 2.3 crore and Rs 2.8 crore. Above this, customers have to pay for the insurance and registration charges,” sources said.

Infinity Cars director Lalit Choudary said: “It is not the right time and pre-mature as we are still finalising the prices and what models to bring in. The picture will be clear in a month’s time.”