Solan-Kaithlighat 4-laning set to end in Oct, 2 years after deadline

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 23

After a delay of several months, the widening of the 22.91-km-long Solan-Kaithlighat section of the Kalka-Shimla national highway to four lanes is likely to be completed by October end.

Deadline revised several times

• The deadline of the project has been revised several times while the latest one for completing the flyover at Chambaghat having expired on March 31
• A slew of issues like the time lost in securing forest clearance of 0.9 hectares on the Chail road in Kandaghat, where the flyover was being constructed, contributed to the delay in the work
• The ownership dispute between the Forest Department and some locals at Kaithlighat delayed the acquisition of a chunk of land
• Similarly, ownership disputes at Kandaghat also halted the construction of the tunnel for sometime

AIREF Engineers was assigned this work in December 2018 and it was supposed to be completed in 30 months, by June 2022. But the work on major structures like a flyover and tunnel remains incomplete. The deadline has been revised several times, with the latest one for completing the flyover at Chambaghat expiring on March 31.

“The work to lay a 54-metre slab on the 650-metre-long flyover at Chambaghat in Solan and an overbridge is in an advanced stage and would be completed by May end. This would enable diversion of traffic through the flyover and completion of the work on the lanes below,” says Anand Dahiya, Project Director, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Shimla.

Since a railway line passes below the flyover, an inspection would be done by the railway authorities before the traffic is diverted over the flyover.

The construction of the tunnel at Kandaghat was halted as the presence of a water tank in the area necessitated altering its alignment. This led to an increase of 207 m of the tunnel’s length. The process to seek requisite approvals by the conciliation committee of the NHAI consumed several months and added to the delay.

“Out of the 207 m, as much as 45 m of the tunnel has been constructed and we expect to complete the work by October-end,” said Dahiya.

The remaining construction work was in an advanced stage of completion and once these two structures were ready, the highway would be made four-lane till Kaithlighat.

Several factors contributed to the delay, including the time lost in securing clearance for 0.9 hectares of forest land on the Chail road in Kandaghat, where a flyover is being constructed.

Besides, the ownership dispute between the Forest Department and some locals at Kaithlighat delayed the acquisition of land. Similarly, ownership disputes at Kandaghat halted the construction of the tunnel for sometime.

This is the third phase of the National Highway Development Project on the Kalka-Shimla highway, which when completed, will reduce the journey time significantly. The highway is being constructed on the engineering, procurement and construction mode.

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