After a stand-off between the Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) and the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) for one and a half years, the Cabinet Secretary has now appointed a three-member panel. The Ahmedabad-based panel will look into the project details and come up with a final verdict on the matter.

The three-member team led by Dr R N Vakil of Ahmedabad-based Central Transport Institute, Dr Shivanand Swamy and development consultant Jivan Mattoo will hand over their report to Secretary Union Urban Development Ministry by October 25. The findings will then be passed on to the Cabinet Secretary and then routed to the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO’s verdict on the matter will then be considered final.

Senior PWD officials said in either case the matter of whether Delhi will see its first tunnel or not will be resolved this year. “But we are running one and a half years behind schedule because of the dispute between the Delhi government and the DUAC. If we start working on the project now, the possibility of meeting the 2010 deadline is slim,” an official said.

Number of presentations were put before the expert panel in the Capital on October 4 by the various stakeholders. In August this year, Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna had sought assistance from the Centre after representations were made to him by the PWD and the Sports Authority of India.

The Tunnel Road project will connect NH-24, the Games Village in east Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (the venue for the Games opening ceremony and other major Games events) through the shortest possible route.

Though the Rs 568-crore project had received sanction from the DDA's technical committee, the Archeological Survey of India and DUAC had raised objections on the grounds that the project would be 'disastrous' for historical monuments Humayun's Tomb and Sabz Burz as they fall near the proposed corridor.

While the DUAC had proposed an alternate route — a major portion of which was to be elevated from Mayur Vihar and a bridge over Barapuula Nalla — the PWD struck it down as being “highly unrealistic”.

“Its implementation would result in traffic congestion. Besides, if we were to implement this route we would have to construct another bridge over the Yamuna,” the official said. According to an MoU signed between Noida Toll Bridge Corporation Ltd and the Delhi government, we cannot construct any competing bridges, he said. He said construction of one more bridge near Sarai Kale Khan as proposed by DUAC would result in time and cost escalation.