Zirakpur-Patiala four-lane project nears completion
Satinder Pal Singh
Zirakpur, April 29
Despite the lapse of over nine months, the much delayed Zirakpur-Patiala four-laning project executed by Centrodorstroy (India) Pvt. Ltd at the cost of Rs 600 crore is fast nearing completion process.
Sources said commercial operation date (COD) with provisional certification issued by the authority would be given shortly as Centrodorstroy Pvt. Ltd had completed the work of the Zirakpur-Patiala four-laning project.
Meanwhile, the National Highway Division of the Public Works Department (PWD), which monitored the execution of the project, had written to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to complete the formalities for the tolling operation.
Vipan Bansal, XEN, PWD, said, “The four-laning project has been completed and after completing the necessary formalities, we will hand it over to the NHAI.”
In a move aimed at giving much relief needed to commuters, the four-laning project, which started in September 2015, was to be completed by March 2017, but later the deadline was extended to October 2017. Later, it was proposed for February 2018.
Kanwal Kant Sharma, project director, Centrodorstroy Private Limited, said the deadline of the Zirakpur-Patiala four-laning project was extended due to delay in forest clearance and then modifications were necessitated for constructing an underpass conceding to the demand of local authorities as permission was to be sought from the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
According to sources, the 50-km-long project had been divided into two phases. In the first phase, the four-laning of the 28-km stretch from Zirakpur-Rajpura was to come up at a cost of Rs 298 crore, and in the second phase, the work on the four-laning of the 24-km stretch from Rajpura-Patiala at a cost of Rs 309 crore was to be completed.
The Zirakpur-Patiala ride is about to get costlier as the highway connecting these two places will soon have toll plazas. Convenient for those who like to go on road trips around the region, this new highway will be highly useful as it will cut down on the travel time between Chandigarh and Patiala by 30 minutes.
Though the highway intends to make travelling smoother, faster and easier for the commuters of the region, local residents are not really happy with the toll related announcement. They believe that it is unfair to burden the common man with more taxes and toll amounts, especially after things like Goods and Services Tax (GST) have been imposed by the government.
