Shimla road project hits speed bump

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 3

The ambitious 90-km Shimla-Kalka highway four-lane project has hit another roadblock as there are no takers for the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project for the construction of the 23-km Solan-Kaithlighat stretch even for the fifth time.

Now, the NHAI has sought fresh bids for this road stretch for the sixth time.

With this, the dream of thousands of commuters, including tourists, of lesser travel time of two hours will remain unfulfilled for another four years. The Shimla-Kalka highway four-lane project may take another four years to complete, reveal NHAI sources.

They say the NHAI had awarded the construction of the 27.5-km Kaithlighat-Dhalli road stretch for Rs 1,480 crore to a private firm in August 2017. Meanwhile, the work on the Parwanoo-Solan highway is expected to be completed by the year-end, if all goes well, they add.

“We had sought bids five times but no one applied. Now, we have sought fresh bids for the sixth time and hope to get response,” says a senior NHAI manager.

The NHAI cites two major reasons for the situation. The Solan-Kaithlighat stretch involves displacement of human habitation and demolition of private shacks and houses, which may result in legal hassles and delay, the sources say.

The NHAI, however, has cleared all land acquisition rates for the Kaithlighat-Dhalli stretch of the highway. It has awarded this portion of the road project to Chetak Road Construction Company and asked it to complete the work in 30 months.

The main highlight of the this section of the Shimla-Kalka highway four-lane project will be a 600 m cable-stayed bridge between Dhalli and Bhatta Kufar. Such a bridge was constructed at Worli in Maharashtra for the first time, an NHAI official says.

Once the highway becomes operational, it will reduce the travelling time between Shimla and Chandigarh to just two hours and the distance will also be reduced to 90 km from about 120 km at present.

The capital city Shimla will also get relief from traffic jams and congestion on the narrow Cart Road. The flow of big vehicles, including Army convoys, leading to border areas and fruit and vegetable-laden trucks and other carriages, will be diverted on this four-lane highway leading to Chandigarh.

Besides, the highway project will provide a hassle-free connectivity to the forward areas of Spiti and Kinnaur along the border with China. The Border Roads Organisation is also widening the Powari-Kaurik part of the national highway that connects the border areas, BRO engineers say.

Reasons 

• The NHAI cites two major reasons for not attracting bidders
• The Solan-Kaithlighat stretch involves displacement of human habitation and demolition of private shacks and houses, which may result in legal hassles and delay
• Now, the NHAI has sought fresh bids for this road stretch for the sixth time.