Elevated Road: An unwanted ‘white elephant’ in the making

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, November 20

The 12.951-km elevated road being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) from the erstwhile octroi post on Ferozepur Road (NH 95) to Samrala Chowk at a cost of Rs 756.27 crore is taking a toll on the city traffic even during its initial phase of construction.

In the opinion of the traffic management exerts, the ‘partially access controlled four-lane’ project being executed on the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode under the National Highway Development Programme, Phase IV, has all the chances of creating more problems (with regard to traffic congestion) than it would solve.

According to information provided by the project implementation unit (PIU) of the NHAI to Rohit Sabharwal, president of Council of RTI Activists, under the Right to Information Act, 2005, work on the project was taken in hand in October 2017 with the targeted completion in a period of 30 months (April 2020), followed by 48 months of maintenance by the construction agency.

However, even as the ongoing construction work from the city limits (on Ferozepur Road) to Punjab Agricultural University has already thrown the city traffic in utter chaos, the elevated road would hardly serve any purpose to provide relief to city traffic conditions on its completion.

“On the contrary, the project would create more problems for traffic movement within the city, especially on Ferozepur Road (from Octroi post to Bharat Nagar Chowk) and further on parts of Link Road. Even for through traffic, Southern Bypass already exists and Northern Bypass is also about to become operational,” says Rahul Verma, Traffic Expert, while adding that the project was launched in a hurried manner without going into its ramifications in the long run.

With slow pace of progress, suspended construction work on the project at present and other impediments in the way, its completion within the stipulated period of 30 months is also doubtful, a fact admitted by BS Chauhan, Project Director, NHAI/PIU. He told The Tribune that the delay in completion in the projects of this magnitude was a common feature.

“The delay in making available land (for up and down ramps near General Bus Stand and Industrial Area), along with the delay in shifting of 66 KV lines by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) are holding up the progress on the project,” said Chauhan.

However, PSPCL Chief Engineer/Central Zone Paramjit Singh disagreed on any delay in the shifting of 66 KV lines on the part of the PSPCL. “Work (for shifting of lines) has to be carried out by the NHAI/construction agency under supervision of the PSPCL officials and all estimates for supervision charges have already been provided to the NHAI,” he maintained.

Work for any further construction was suspended in September 2018 on the directions of Municipal Commissioner Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar who had told the construction agency to come out with an alternative traffic plan and also make slip roads/service lanes functional for vehicular traffic to avoid frequent traffic jams on the stretch of Ferozepur Road where construction work was on. With not much progress on making slip/service roads operational at present, the further construction work on the elevated road project was suspended as of now and more delay in completion of the project was a foregone conclusion.

Fact File

Elevated road project

(Octroi Post, Ferozepur Road - NH 95 to Samrala Chowk)

Length: 12.951 km

Estimated cost; Rs 756.27 crore

Time limit: 30 months (Oct 2017 to April 2020)

Maintenance period: 48 months after completion

Mode of construction: EPC (engineering, procurement and construction)

under National Highway Development Programme Phase IV