NHAI re-allots contract for widening NH-44

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, June 22

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has re-allotted the contract of widening NH-44 into 12 lanes, including eight main lanes and four service lanes, to a new company — Well Spun. The new company has to complete the project within 15 months.

Earlier, the project of widening the 72-kilometer highway from Mukarba Chowk in Delhi to Panipat in Haryana was with Essel Infraprojects Limited group, but it had missed its April 2019 deadline.

So far, the previous company had completed only 40 per cent of the work. The work wasn’t resumed despite several notices served by the NHAI, said an NHAI official on condition of anonymity. The delay caused a lot of inconvenience to commuters, forcing them to face frequent traffic jams and score of people had lost their lives in accidents on this stretch in the past one-and-a-half-year.

The service lanes, main highway, and sides of the road had been dug up at several places for widening by the previous company, but it had stopped work on all sites around two years ago.

The Rs 2128.72-crore project was allotted to Essel Infraprojects Limited in 2015 in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Ashish Jain, Project Director, NHAI, Delhi, said the work had been re-allotted to Well Spun company and 15 months had been fixed to complete the project.

Shyam Lal Poonia, Deputy Commissioner, Sonepat, said the new consignee had assured that the project would be completed within in 15 months. Besides, it has also assured to fix all signboards and to complete the two flyovers in Bari and Kundli of Sonepat district within four months.

Pending Rs 76-crore payment sought

• Sources said the previous company had allotted work to sub-contractors, who left the work midway after they didn’t get the payment on time.
• The sub-contractors on Friday met MLA Rai Mohan Lal Badoli and demanded their pending payment of Rs76 crore be made to them.
• They also submitted a memorandum to the MLA for their demands