Finally, land acquisition over for 25.24-km-long Southern Bypass

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 1

Finally, land acquisition for the construction of the 25.24-km-long Southern Ludhiana Bypass has been completed, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has confirmed.

The development assumes significance as this six-lane greenfield highway project to be built at a cost of Rs 988.85 crore was hanging fire for the past one year due to the non-availability of land due to stiff resistance by the landowners to part away with their landholdings under acquisition, officials have said.

This big-ticket infrastructure development project will decongest the busy internal and external arteries of the industrial and business hub of the North.

Sharing details, Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora told The Tribune here today that the NHAI has awarded the project at a cost of Rs 702 crore, while Rs 286.85 crore had been spent on acquiring 180 hectares of land required for the Southern Ludhiana Bypass to be constructed under the Bharatmal Pariyojana.

Arora, who reviewed the progress of the project, said the acquisition proceedings had already been completed for the entire chunk of 180 hectares of land for which an award of Rs 286.85 crore had also been announced and disbursed.

He disclosed that four bidders had evinced interest to construct the greenfield highway, of which the lowest bidder has been awarded the project.

The four bidders included Ceigall India Limited with the lowest bid quoted price of Rs 702 crore, Varindera Constructions Rs 768 crore, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Rs 811 crore and GR Infraprojects had quoted the bid price of Rs 851 crore.

This 6-lane greenfield and access-controlled section of Southern Ludhiana Bypass will connect the 650-km-long under-construction Delhi-Katra expressway near Ballowal with the existing National Highway-44 at Rajgarh.

The NHAI, which has taken up this project as a part of the Ludhiana-Ajmer Economic Corridor, had invited bids for its construction with a two-year deadline at an estimated cost of Rs 601.68 crore.

The Rajya Sabha MP said the construction of the project would begin shortly on a hybrid annuity mode (HAM) under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I.

Besides, the Southern Ludhiana Bypass will also connect the 75.54-km-long Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway and 104.44-km-long Ludhiana-Ropar expressway, for which civil contracts had already been awarded.

“The project would provide a better level of services in terms of improved riding quality and smooth traffic flow. Faster transportation will ultimately lead to massive savings in the form of reduced wear and tear of vehicles, reduced vehicle operating costs and total reduction in transportation costs,” Arora added, while informing that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav had assured him that the work on the Southern Ludhiana Bypass would begin soon and would be completed within two years.