Work allotted for six-laning of Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 25

The work to make the 75.543-km Ludhiana-Bathinda national highway six-laned has been allotted to two separate construction companies, the government has confirmed.

While the package 1 of the 30.3-km-long greenfield expressway has been allotted to Ram Kumar contractor, the second part, comprising 45.243-km stretch on the NH-754-AD, was allotted to Ceigall India Ltd, the officials have said.

A total of 13 construction companies had evinced interest in undertaking work of the six-lane access-controlled highway connecting Ballowal village on the Delhi-Amritsar expressway with Rampura Phul on the Amritsar-Bathinda expressway.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had invited tenders for its construction in January last with a two-year deadline.

With this, the drive from Ludhiana to Bathinda will become smoother and faster as the project entails six-laning the 75.543-km-long national highway 754-AD at the cost of Rs 1,716.17 crore.

The part of Ludhiana-Ajmer economic corridor (EC-8) will be completed in 24 months under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase 1.

The bidders included Ram Kumar contractor, Ceigall India, Agroh Infrastructure Developers, CDS Infra Projects, Chetak Enterprises, GR Infraprojects, HG Infra Engineering, Krishna Constructions, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures, PNC Infratech, Prakash Asphalt and Toll Highways, Ravi Infrabuild Projects and VRC Constructions (I).

“Following the technical evaluation of the bids received for both packages, the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders were opened to allot the work to the lowest bidder,” said a senior NHAI officer.

Sharing details, a district official told The Tribune here on Monday that the acquisition of 525.19 hectares of land was almost complete and the few pending awards will be announced shortly.

She said the widening and strengthening of the highway is being undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in two parts under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode.

The first component of the NH-754-AD will comprise 30.3 km, while the second part will run into a 45.243-km stretch.

While 13 bids were received for the package 1 on the project’s southern end, 12 bidders have evinced interest to construct package 2 on the northern end.

While 201.67 hectares is acquired for the first stretch, the second leg will require 323.52 hectares of land spread across 36 villages in different parts of the district.

The civil cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 1,596.3 crore — Rs 639.07 crore for the first part and Rs 957.23 crore for the second component — while Rs 119.87 crore is earmarked for the land acquisition.

The 30.3-km-long first package of the six-lane access-controlled greenfield highway will begin from junction with the Amritsar-Bathinda NH-754-A near Tallewal village at Rampura Phul in Bathinda, while the second 45.243-km stretch from junction with the Moga-Barnala NH-703 will connect with the Delhi-Katra expressway (NE-5) at Ballowal village in Ludhiana.

The new Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway will pass through 36 villages falling in three districts of Ludhiana under Ludhiana and Raikot tehsils, Barnala under Barnala and Tapa tehsils, and Rampura Phul tehsil in Bathinda district.

The official revealed that the proposal for seeking approval to acquire 5.96 hectares of forest land falling under the project has been submitted to the DFO after conducting a joint verification and the same will be accorded by the PCCF. “The plan and profile of the project stands submitted,” she added.

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