Six-laning of Panipat-Jalandhar NH-1 to miss another deadline

Manish Sirhindi

Tribune News Service

Ambala, March 4

With more than 28 km of flyovers yet to be constructed on the 272 km stretch of the Panipat-Jalandhar section, the project to six-lane the NH1 will likely miss the March 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court.

The Soma-Isolux NH1 Tollway Private Limited, a consortium of Spanish company Isolux Corsan and its Indian partner Soma Enterprises Limited, was awarded the contract and an agreement was signed on May 9, 2008. The project was to be executed on the design-build-finance-operate (DBFO) basis with a concession period of 15 years.

As per contract documents, the slated for completion by November 2011 but it has been delayed for over three years now.

A detailed survey conducted by TNS on NH1 revealed that 132 major structures (read flyovers) have been opened to traffic till date and work on 28 structures is still underway. The companies claim that everything will be in place before the deadline.

However, work on 21 structures has not been taken up indicating that the company would miss the deadline.

At several places in Karnal, including Nilokheri, Jhanjhari, Baldi bye-pass Devi Lal Chowk, Namaste Chowk and Gharaunda the flyovers are yet to be completed. Pipli Chowk and Rattangarh followed by Shahabad in Kurukshetra and Kalka Chowk, Motor Market Chowk and Gurdwara Mani Sahib in Ambala are other places where the flyovers are incomplete.

Similarly, in Punjab the flyovers at Sirhind, Khanna and Ludhiana are yet to be completed.

Persistent rains over the last few days have also delayed construction work leaving the company officials in rush to finish as much work before March 31, as possible.

Rishabh Jaggotta, the official spokesman for the company, contended that due to various hindrances, work on the 21 structures could not be started as clearances from concerned authorities had not been received. Work on road marking, lighting on the highways, crash barriers and sign boards had been taken all the along the highway.

He claimed that the company’s engineers hoped to complete the project as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, commuters on NH1 continue to be harassed by frequent traffic jams at unconstructed flyovers. The roads adjoining such flyovers have developed potholes/ cracked due to heavy traffic. Repairing these has become a problem for the company as it results in more traffic snarls.

However, commuters continue to feel the heat of the pending works as they are being charged toll for only four lanes and that too in certain stretches on the highway. Under phase 5 of its National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), the NHAI had decided to convert the four-lane NH1 into a six-lane one. The Punjab and Haryana high court had on May 27, 2013 directed the NHAI to take over the highway project. The company went to the SC which on April 17, 2014 ordered the construction of the remaining flyovers by March 31, 2015. The estimated cost of the project on March 30, 2009, was Rs 2,747.5 crore which has now gone up to Rs 4,518 crore.

(With inputs from Parveen Arora in Karnal and Nitish Sharma in Kurukshetra)