Punjab to have expressways worth Rs 5,400 crore

The Punjab government today proposed two expressways with a total investment of Rs 5,400 crore in order to upgrade the existing road infrastructure.

The government is expected to complete acquisition of 3,000 acres of land for the 184-km, six-lane Mohali-Phagwara expressway by June this year. The expressway, to be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, is likely to attract an investment of Rs 5,000 crore and will be completed within two years.

The remaining Rs 400 crore will be invested in the 26-km city expressway project for Ludhiana. “The land acquisition for the project is likely to be completed within 3-4 months. After the acquisition is complete, we will invite bids for the project,” Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told Business Standard.

He added: “The entire process for putting this project on the ground has been completed. All the plan details, like the alignment of the 100-m wide corridor and project structure have already been worked out. The land acquisition notice for the purpose was issued on February 6”.

The state’s first expressway, which has been designed by US-based technical consultant Louis Berger Inc, will allow vehicles to run at a speed of 120 kmph.

Badal said the government was likely to spend over Rs 2,400 crore for the project, while the rest will be borne by the private player in the areas of construction, operation and maintenance.

The six-lane expressway, with a provision for subsequent expansion to 10 lanes, will help reduce the travel time between these two cities from the present 2.5 hours to just an hour.

On the other hand, the four-lane Ludhiana city expressway will start from Doraha (at NH-1) and will end at Ferozepur Road (NH-95) in Ludhiana. The cost of the project is being shared by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and the Greater Ludhiana Development Authority.

Badal added that tenders for the project will be invited within 10 days. The expressway project will start from May this year, and will be completed by October 2010.

“These state-of-the-art greenfield expressways will revolutionise the concept of road transport in the country and give a fillip to development in Punjab,” said Sukhbir.

The access-controlled traffic artery, he said, will be one of the best in the world, with the application of most advanced traffic-control technologies, such as the intelligent transport system and highway traffic management system for surveillance of the entire expressway through camera surveillance and control rooms and for providing prior information to commuters through Variable Electronic Message Display Boards.