Chhattisgarh road project hits hurdle

The Rs 250-crore road project of the Delhi-based DS Construction (DSC) Limited in Chhattisgarh is heading for a bumpy ride with company’s another effort to set up toll plaza going into vain.

The Chhattisgarh High Court has granted stay on the proposed toll plaza in Sunder Nagar locality on the 44 km Tatibandh (through ring road) and Arang four-lane project that DSC had constructed. The company had bagged the contract from National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in 2006 on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

The initial cost of the project was Rs 190 crore that went up to Rs 250 crore when the work was completed in 2010. Since then, the company is exercising hard to set up a toll plaza at a viable location identified by the NHAI. Since the plaza was proposed in the municipal corporation limits, people were up in arms as they would have to pay toll even while driving in the city.

 

Earlier, the toll plaza was proposed in Sarona that was dropped following strong protest from the people. The NHAI later suggested coming up with the plaza in Sunder Nagar area and the work for the same also started. The local resident moved to the High Court and got a stay on the construction work.

“We are yet to get official information about the High Court order,” company’s spokesperson Sunil Nayak told Business Standard. The company had been incurring heavy loss for failing to set up toll plaza at two places on the road, he said, adding that the company had bagged the contract on BOT basis for 25 years.