Finally, one of three black spots on Ludhiana-Chandigarh highway cleared

Finally, one of the three missing links, which had turned black spots, on one of the busiest Ludhiana-Kharar-Chandigarh highway has been almost completed while the work has been awarded to construct the remaining two left-out portions of the 76-km National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) project, which had been otherwise completed sans three missing stretches at the cost of Rs 2,100 crore way back in March 2020.

While the construction of a left-out flyover at the Bhaini Sahib junction was almost completed and was likely to be opened for traffic within the next fortnight, the work on two more roadblocks will be completed in the next 12 months.

The development assumes significance as the non-availability of requisite land had left three minor stretches, with a length of less than 2 km, incomplete almost five years ago when the four-six-laning of the highway that connects Ludhiana with Chandigarh via Kharar had been completed.

The issue of land acquisition was resolved recently after Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora took up the same with the district administrations of Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib and NHAI officials to get possession of the requisite land for paving way for construction of the missing links.

The NHAI officials told The Tribune here on Monday that three stretches on the Kharar to Ludhiana NH-05, with a total length of 76.014-km, of which 74.284-km was completed in March 2020, were de-scoped due to various litigations pertaining to land acquisition issues.

One of these de-scoped segments, from 65.440-km to 65.885-km at Katani Kalan under Ludhiana district, has already been cleared and the work on it has been almost completed by the Concessionaire.

Besides, the land required for construction of two other stretches at Khant Manpur and Jatana Uncha, totalling 1.285-km in Fatehgarh Sahib district, has also been handed over to the NHAI, with demolition of structures on them almost completed.

“These areas are critical black spots for the project and need expedited completion,” the officials maintained while informing that the NHAI had begun the utility shifting for these two stretches and the tender allocations were currently in process.

The four-six laning of Ludhiana-Chandigarh section of the National Highway (NH-95) (now NH-05) had begun in 2017 and had been completed in March 2020, following which the NHAI had awarded completion and commercial operation date (COD) to the concessionaire, who had since then commenced toll operations.

However, the three missing links were causing massive traffic congestion and bottleneck on the busy highway as the vehicular traffic from both sides had been diverted on a single lane due to the non-construction of the flyovers and highway stretches, which was causing inconvenience to commuters and was leading to accidents and traffic jams on a daily basis.

“Since the issue has been resolved and the possession of the requisite land has been taken over, the flyover at Bhaini Sahib junction will be ready for vehicular traffic by December 15 while the work on the rest black spots will also be completed by December next,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.

The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved the four-six-laning of the Kharar-Ludhiana section of the NH-95 (new NH-05) on June 15, 2016.

Following this, the NHAI had awarded the work at Rs 2,069.7 crore, including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities, on September 5, 2016, under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V in Hybrid Annuity Mode.

The total length of the highway to be developed was 76 km.

The project has helped in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Punjab, especially Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Mohali districts, through which this highway passes, and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Kharar and Ludhiana sections.

The development of the stretch has also helped in uplifting the socio-economic condition of this region, besides increasing the employment potential for local labourers for project activities.

The development of 76-km Kharar-Ludhiana section involved six-laning of 54-km and four-laning of a 22-km highway. The highway construction had started from Kharar town, passed through Morinda bypass, Khamanno town, Samrala bypass and had terminated at Ludhiana city.

Improved connectivity

The highway has improved the connectivity and ensured faster movement of traffic from the industrial hub of Ludhiana to Chandigarh and other parts of North India. The project had also provided alternative connectivity of Chandigarh to the NH-1 as well as for the traffic from South-West Punjab to Chandigarh.

The project has two major bridges, six minor bridges, eight flyovers, six vehicular underpasses, 10 pedestrian underpasses, 126 culverts, 46-km-long service lane, nine major junctions, 253 minor junctions and 8-km-long bypass at Samrala.

From two to six-lane

Prior to 2016, the highway was only two-lane, following which the traffic congestion, road accidents and frequent traffic jams used to cause major inconvenience to commuters travelling between Ludhiana and Chandigarh.

After beginning in early 2017, the highway construction was completed in March 2020, barring three incomplete stretches for want of requisite land.

The work was undertaken through the hybrid annuity mode, under which the government had paid 40 per cent of the construction cost to the developer while the remaining 60 per cent had been borne by the concessionaires.