The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a six-lane road tunnel connecting the Dwarka Expressway (NH-248BB) with Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj. The project will be developed under the National Highways (Original) scheme on Hybrid Annuity Mode at an estimated cost of ₹6,969.67 crore. The corridor, designated NH-148AE, will stretch 8.1 km in total and is designed to improve movement between West Delhi and South Delhi specifically for commuters coming from Gurugram, Dwarka, Indira Gandhi International Airport and West Delhi heading toward South Delhi.
What’s being built
The centrepiece is a 3.14 km underground twin-tube tunnel, bored using Tunnel Boring Machine technology. It starts at the Shiv Murti Interchange and ends near the junction of Nelson Mandela Marg and Mahipalpur–Chhatarpur Road. Around that core, the project adds a 1.8 km elevated corridor along Nelson Mandela Marg, a flyover connecting Chhatarpur and Mahipalpur, and an elevated U-turn facility.
The full 8.1 km corridor breaks down as: 3.14 km of tunnel, 0.98 km of tunnel approach ramps, 0.554 km of retaining wall approaches, 2.556 km of elevated sections and 0.87 km of at-grade roadway.
Why underground matters here
Nearly 1.98 km of the tunnel passes beneath the Southern Ridge area of Delhi. Going underground here avoids surface disruption and helps preserve the ridge ecosystem an environmental consideration that shaped the project’s design. The tunnel is also being planned with wider connectivity in mind. NHAI is proposing an elevated corridor between AIIMS and Mahipalpur that would link this tunnel into the Barapullah elevated road network, which would thread together West Delhi, South Delhi, East Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida.
Employment
Government estimates put direct employment generation at around 264 person-days per lane-kilometre of National Highway construction, with 55 person-days of indirect employment alongside. For this project, that works out to nearly 7.54 lakh person-days of direct employment and 9.8 lakh person-days of indirect employment.
Key takeaway: The NH-148AE project is one of Delhi’s more complex road infrastructure approvals in recent years, a TBM-bored tunnel beneath the Southern Ridge, paired with elevated sections and flyovers, aimed at cutting travel time between the city’s west and south. If the AIIMS–Mahipalpur corridor comes through as proposed, it would extend the project’s impact considerably further east.
MCQ:
Question 1:
The recently approved road tunnel connecting Dwarka Expressway with Nelson Mandela Marg will be developed under which mode?
A. EPC Mode
B. BOT (Toll) Mode
C. Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM)
D. PPP Annuity Mode
Question 2:
The NH-148AE project includes a tunnel constructed using which technology?
A. New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM)
B. Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)
C. Cut-and-Cover Method
D. Shield Mining Method
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