Highway projects worth Rs 5,000 crore are underway to decongest the National Capital Region (NCR), union minister Nitin Gadkari said Friday.

Transport minister Gadkari was addressing a gathering while laying the foundation stone of a Rs 3,580 crore highway project here to decongest Delhi.

The over 59-km long highway project will start at Ring Road-DND junction and passing through Kalindi bypass and Faridabad-Ballabhgarh bypass, it will finish at the interchange of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at KMP.

"Highway projects worth over Rs 5,000 crore are underway to decongest NCR Delhi," ministry of road transport and highways quoted Gadkari as saying in a statement.

Reiterating the government's commitment for developing the capital city on international standards, providing world-class transport amenities and reducing the high levels of pollution, Gadkari said work on the 59-km project will begin within two months and the entire project will be completed in two years, it said.

"He thanked the state governments of UP, Haryana and Delhi for their cooperation in the project. Underlining the prospective development of the region, Gadkari called upon Haryana to consider developing new townships of Faridabad and Gurugram on the lines of Navi Mumbai," the statement said.

The project, for which the foundation stone was laid today, will have three-lane service roads each on either side for about 29 km, 7.350 km of the elevated section with two level crossings at four locations of Metro line, 18 new underpasses, and nine interchanges with improved junctions, the statement said.

"The project will decongest Delhi with reduction of traffic in Ashram-Badarpur-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh region. This is expected to result in the reduction of vehicular pollution," it said.

The project would be in addition to the nine other projects being implemented for decongesting the National Capital Region. These projects include the 3-km signal-free corridor from Dhaula Kuan to airport at a cost of Rs 280 crore, which is about 40 per cent completed; the 22-km, six-lane elevated corridor on Gurugram-Sohna Road costing Rs 2,000 crore on which work has started and eight-lane Delhi-Panipat highway from Mukarba Chowk to Panipat on NH-1 being constructed at a cost of Rs 2,300 and nearly 48 per cent done, the statement said.

The other projects for decongestion include the 29-km, eight-lane access controlled Dwarka Expressway costing about Rs 9,500 crore on which work has started; package II, III and IV of Delhi-Meerut Expressway costing Rs 5,900 crore, where package II is 36 per cent done, package III is 76 per cent done and package IV is 32 per cent done, the statement said.

The other projects include four-laning of 124-km Khekra-EPE junction to Shamli-Saharanpur (NH-709 B) at a cost of about Rs 1,200 crore; Rangpuri Bypass to connect Dwarka/NH-08 with Vasant Kunj-Nelson Mandela Road at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore; 75-km Urban Extension Road (UER-2); third Ring Road for Delhi under Bharatmala at a cost of Rs 4,000 Crore and the 31.3-km, six-lane access controlled corridor from Akshardham NH-24 Junction to EPE Junction on Baghpat Road at a cost of about Rs 2,600 crore, it said.