Work awarded for Delhi-Katra expressway stretch in Ludhiana district

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 18

The much-awaited work to construct the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, falling in Ludhiana district, has been finally awarded to a construction company, the government has confirmed.

Of the 361.656-km proposed length in Punjab, the 39-km stretch of one of the six greenfield expressways identified under the Bharatmala Pariyojna Phase-I and included in the list of 22 greenfield corridors in the Budget announcements for this fiscal, falls across 24 villages in Ludhiana district, the officials have said.

Sharing details, a senior officer of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told The Tribune here on Monday, that the work to construct the 35.09-km stretch of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway package 8 under phase 1 from Ludhiana-Malerkotla (SH-11) near Bhogiwal village to Ludhiana-Moga road (NH-5) near Mullanpur Dakha has been awarded to a joint venture, OJSC Euro-Asian Construction Corporation Evrascon-MKC Infrastructure Ltd.

Similarly, another connecting 43.04-km stretch of the same expressway package 9 under phase 1 from Ludhiana-Moga road (NH-5) near Mullanpur Dakha to Jalandhar-Moga road (NH-703) near Kang Sahibu village has also been awarded to the same company.

According to official information, the NHAI’s estimate for construction of package 8 was fixed at Rs 1,129.02 crore and the lowest bid was received at Rs 989.66 crore, following which the work was allotted.

Similarly, the NHAI’s estimate for package 9 was fixed at Rs 1,404.13 crore and the work was awarded after the lowest bid was received at Rs 1,234.4 crore.

Besides these two packages, the work on seven other packages on this expressway falling in Punjab have also been awarded to different companies.

The expressway project’s greenfield section comprises 15 packages, including 12 on the 397-km Delhi-Gurdaspur section and three on the 99-km Nakodar-Amritsar spur.

The development assumes significance as the land acquisition for the project was completed recently.

Earlier, the land acquisition work had faced hurdles due to the farmers’ stir and higher compensation demand by the land owners.

Then Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan had pushed the district officials to speed up the land acquisition process for ensuring timely completion of the project.

Sharing details, a district official disclosed that a total of 3,000 hectare area was acquired for the proposed main alignment of the expressway in Punjab.

She disclosed that 400 hectares were acquired in Ludhiana district.

According to the project report, the Punjab section of the 650-km-long expressway, being constructed at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore with completion deadline of October, 2023, begins from near Galoli village in Patiala and ends at the Gurdaspur bypass. The proposed Amritsar greenfield connectivity starts from Nakodar and ends near the canal on the Amritsar-Ajnala road.

The project alignment of the Punjab section passes through Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Gurdaspur districts, while the alignment of greenfield connectivity to Amritsar crosses through Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts.

The expressway will reduce the distance between Delhi and Amritsar/Katra by about 40-km and provide travel time from Delhi to Amritsar within four to four and a half hours and Delhi to Katra within six to six and a half hours.

Since the four-lane access-controlled road, expandable to eight lanes, being developed under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) passes through Punjab, Haryana, and Jammu, it will provide the shortest connectivity to industrial and economic hubs of Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Sangrur in Punjab, Ambala in Haryana, Kathua and Jammu in Jammu and Kashmir, and Chandigarh.

After the long distance vehicular traffic shifting from existing national highways to the new expressway, resulting in lesser congestion and leading to higher fuel savings and reduced travel time, the freight movement will also speed up and road safety of the traffic connecting the region will be enhanced with minimum distractions and conflict zones.

It will also provide shortest connectivity to important Sikh shrines at Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran and the recently developed Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib international corridor in Punjab.

Project report

• Rs. 25,000 cr Estimated cost

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