Work begins for six-laning of Ludhiana-Bathinda highway

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 11

The drive from Ludhiana to Bathinda will soon be smoother and faster as the work has begun to six-lane the 75.543-km-long national highway 754-AD at the cost of Rs 1,716.17 crore, the government has confirmed.

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

Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan reviewed the progress of the project at a high-level meeting held here recently and instructed the officials concerned to expedite the present pace for ensuring its completion within the stipulated time frame.

Sharing details, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma told The Tribune, here on Tuesday that the acquisition of 525.19 hectares of land is in the advanced stage of completion and the pending award for 17 villages will be announced by August 15.

Divulging the status of the greenfield project, ADC (General) Rahul Chaba 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.

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

While 201.67 hectares was 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 1,596.3 crore — Rs 639.07 crore for first part and Rs 957.23 crore for the second component — while Rs 119.87 crore has been earmarked for the land acquisition.

The 30.3-km-long first package of this 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 in three districts of Ludhiana under Ludhiana and Rajkot tehsils, Barnala under Barnala and Tapa tehsils, and Rampura Phul tehsil in Bathinda.

The ADC (General) revealed that the proposal for seeking approval to acquire 5.96 hectares of forest land falling under the project has been submitted to the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) after conducting a joint verification and the same will be accorded by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF). “The plan and profile of the project stands submitted,” he added.

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