NHAI to build new link to Kurali-Chandigarh road

After scrapping the project to widen the 40-km long Kharar-Banur-Tepla road in July 2019, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come up with an alternate greenfield alignment, a 32km road from IT chowk ( PR-7) near Airport to the Kurali-Chandigarh road from the villages of Nagiari and Devi Nagar here.

A greenfield road is built in an area where there is no construction.

NHAI, it is learnt, issued a notification recently asking the farmers of around 60 villages for objections and acquisition of land within 21 days.

The new road will decongest Chandigarh and Zirakpur by providing an alternate route to traffic coming from Delhi and going to Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

“We have issued the notification and around 400 acres land will be acquired in around 60 villages of Mohali district,” said NHAI project director Pradeep Atri.

NHAI will also widen the existing road to six lanes of 40 km from IT city chowk to Ambala via Banur and Tepla.

The matter of an alternate route had been taken up in February, 2020, by member of Parliament Manish Tewari with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, following which the ministry in its letter had stated that NHAI was checking the feasibility of the greenfield section.Bids for appointment of a consultant to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) had been received and was under evaluation, the letter said.

After issuing the notification for widening 40-km-long Kharar-Banur-Tepla road in 2018, the NHAI had scrapped the project in July 2019 owing to high costs.

Inderjit Ghai, managing director, General Highway and Infracom Private Limited, who prepared the detailed project report for the scrapped project said, NHAI had decided to explore the possibility of a new greenfield alignment. “I feel that the proposed project is also viable under Build Operate Transfer (BOT) as traffic is huge on the road and its cost can be recovered in a decade’s time. In addition, there are other benefits like reduction in pollution level, reduction of road accidents and congestion in Chandigarh city and Zirakpur, he said.”

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