Chandigarh, June 25
The BJP-led NDA government will put five major road projects worth Rs 4,570 crore in Haryana and Punjab on fast track. The Central Government will also review the National Toll Policy for commuters’ convenience.

Announcing this here today, Minister of State for Surface Transport, Highways and Shipping, Krishan Pal Gurjar said the Centre will speed up four-laning of four major roads in Haryana and six-laning of the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway.

The six-laning of the 86-km Ludhiana-Chandigarh stretch, hanging fire since 2005, would cost Rs 1,434 crore. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved alignment of three bypasses — Mohali to Kharar, Khamano and Samrala —paving the way for finalisation of the tendering process, official said.

The minister, who represents the Faridabad Lok Sabha seat, said four-laning of the Panchkula-Yamuna Nagar national highway (Rs 1,136 crore), Ambala-Kaithal NH (Rs 850 crore), Pinjore-Baddi NH (Rs 750 crore) would be taken up on priority. The Ambala-Saha-Shahbad state highway would get a national highway status and its four-laning will cost Rs 400 crore, said Gurjar.

While announcing that the National Toll Policy would be reviewed, Gurjar was non-committal on rollback of toll rates as he claimed that agreements with the concessionaires were signed before the new government assumed office. The minister said the Centre was yet to receive a communication from the Haryana Government for providing relief to commuters due to higher toll rates in the state.