Work on city’s longest elevated highway delayed again, will start only by year-end

  • | Thursday | 15th November, 2018

NHAI project director Ashok Sharma told TOI that the project will be constructed in two phases. In August 2016, the 95-km stretch on Gurugram-Alwar highway was given the national highway status, and the project is part of this highway. The silver lining is that construction work for the project may begin in December. The highway authority has already issued 69 notices and more notices will be issued in the coming days. The proposed highway will reduce the travelling time to 15-20 minutes.According to NHAI officials, tenders for the project were issued in March this year.

The construction of the longest elevated highway in the district, which was expected to start by Diwali, has once again been pushed back despite two ministers having separately laid the foundation stones for the project. While Union minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the Badshapur highway in August 2016, Haryana public works department (PWD) minister Rao Narbir Singh did the same in September this year. The silver lining is that construction work for the project may begin in December. However, even when the construction does begin, the project will not be ready for another two and a half years.The 21.66-km project was first announced in 2015. In August 2016, the 95-km stretch on Gurugram-Alwar highway was given the national highway status, and the project is part of this highway. NHAI project director Ashok Sharma told TOI that the project will be constructed in two phases. In the first phase, a 8.94-km road connecting Rajiv Chowk and Badshapur via Subhash Chowk will be built at a budget of Rs 702 crore.In the second phase, a 12.72-km road, including six flyovers, will be built between Badshapur and Sohna at a budget of Rs 650 crore. “Apart from this, six foot over-bridges, six bus queue shelters and a three-lane service road on both sides are also planned. NHAI will be collecting toll on this stretch and a toll plaza will be set up at Ghamroj. The entire project will cost around Rs 1,385 crore,” said Sharma.The road will take the burden off Sohna Road and Rajiv Chowk and will ease congestion on the stretch caused by traffic coming from 54 villages, including Jharsa, Badshahpur, Sohna, Islampur, Tikri, Fazilpur Jharsa and Bhondsi. Currently, it takes around 45 minutes to travel from Rajiv Chowk to Sohna. The proposed highway will reduce the travelling time to 15-20 minutes.According to NHAI officials, tenders for the project were issued in March this year. Verbal orders to begin construction have been issued, and written orders are expected within a fortnight, following which construction is expected to begin.Several dates had been given in the past to begin work on the project. Recently, PWD minister Rao Narbir Singh had announced that work will begin on September 21. Later, NHAI said it will start by Diwali. Although the minister had announced in September that the project will be completed in 11 months, NHAI officials said it will be completed by mid-2021 as the expected construction time is two and a half years.Meanwhile, many unauthorised properties on the stretch are yet to be acquired by NHAI. The land washanded over to NHAI byPWD without clearing these encroachments. The highway authority has already issued 69 notices and more notices will be issued in the coming days. So far, 42 property owners have filed a representation. NHAI officials said they will dismiss all representations by the squatters and demolish all illegal structures.

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