New Delhi: Commuters driving into Delhi from Faridabad should get some relief from snarls at the border from mid-August because one carriageway of the Badarpur elevated road is likely to be opened by then. The Delhi-Faridabad corridor will be opened completely in September, NHAI officials claimed. Commuters will not pay toll for the first few weeks but once the project is complete, cars will have to pay Rs 20 per trip.

    NHAI officials claimed the project is likely to be complete by October, two months ahead of the official deadline. If that happens, this will be the only Commonwealth Games-related project to meet its deadline.

    Senior officials said tolling would be allowed only when a large part of the project is complete. ‘‘Meanwhile, we can allow them to carry on beautification work and give finishing touches,’’ said a senior NHAI official. He added that anticipating the project would be complete before the Games, the developer — Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) — of the 4.4-km elevated corridor has submitted a proposal for notification of toll on the stretch. ‘‘Since toll notifications have to be issued a few weeks before user charges are levied on a stretch, we will be going in for a gazette notification soon. The toll rates have already been fixed as per the concession agreement,’’ the official added.

    Meanwhile, issues related to land acquisition at two locations have become a cause of concern for NHAI. ‘‘We need to acquire nearly half an acre of land on the Haryana side to set up an office block to manage the toll plaza. Another small patch of land is still to be acquired for construction of the interchange leading to Mehrauli,’’ said an official. Officials however claimed these issues will not hamper work.

    While the original deadline for the project was December 2010, NHAI had claimed the elevated road would be operational by October. After a long delay, NHAI had awarded the Rs 340-crore project to HCC in December 2008. The elevated road starts at NTPC Chowk near Badarpur in Delhi and ends at sector 37, Faridabad. The project will do away with five major intersections (two in Delhi and three in Haryana) — NTPC junction, Sarai junction, Jaitpur junction, Mehrauli junction and sector 37 junction. The project also includes construction of three subways for pedestrians.

    Frequent traffic jams are reported on the road due to heavy traffic and encroachments. Commuters spend over half an hour to cross the stretch on NH-2.