Four-laning of Parwanoo-Solan stretch gets green ministry nod

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, January 7

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has accorded the much-awaited forest clearance to the four-laning of National Highway-22 from Parwanoo to Solan, paving the way for initiating the project.

The clearance for the remaining stretch of the national highway -- lying in Shimla district and extending till Shogi -- is yet to be availed. Prem Mahajan, Divisional Forest Officer, Solan, while confirming the news said a communication to this effect has been received from the ministry and they were now preparing the nitty-gritty of the remaining process.

As many as 21,585 trees of different species valued at about Rs 8.75 crore will be axed for the project. The National Highway Authority of India, which is the executing agency, will also have to deposit Rs 3.02 crore for compensatory afforestation on 131 hectares.

According to norms, this activity has to be undertaken by the Forest Department on degraded land -- the size of which has to be double the forest land lost in the project.

The state government would also charge the net present value of the forest land used for this purpose and this has been tentatively worked out at Rs 6.15 crore.

Though the MoEF had given the stage-1 clearance, the NHAI would have to comply with the required conditions laid down in this December 30 letter and then seek final approval under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 before embarking upon the project.

Several other hurdles continue to delay the execution of this project as award granted by SDM Solan had been challenged by the user agency before the divisional commissioner and its final decision is yet to be delivered.

Initially, the project was supposed to be built on build, operate and transfer basis but now, it has been transformed to engineering procurement contract basis.