Land acquisition a stumbling block in Baddi-Nalagarh stretch widening
BOX— Cost running too high
*A stretch of 36 km is supposed to be four-laned by the NHAI from Pinjore to Nalagarh, out of which 17.6 km lies in Himachal.
*The NHAI has refused to fund the project as against the civil construction cost, estimated to be Rs 420 crore, the land acquisition cost has been estimated to be Rs 650 crore.
*Since this is an existing road, with an average right of way of about 24 m, the amount of Rs 650 crore for laying additional 21 m is considered to be too exorbitant.
Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, June 23
Even as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited expression of interest for four-laning the Pinjore-Baddi section of National Highway 105, work to widen the Baddi-Nalagarh stretch is stuck due to the high cost of land acquisition.
Ashok Kumar, a senior official of the NHAI, said the width of the highway has been reduced to 24 m for the Pinjore-Baddi stretch and additional land would be required only for 4.2-km area, where structures like bridges, service lanes etc have to be provided. A toll plaze would also be erected on a 190-m area.
A stretch of 36 km was supposed to be four-laned by the NHAI from Pinjore to Nalagarh out of which 17.6 km lies in Himachal.
Though the state government has notified Nalagarh SDM as the competent authority to rationalise the circle rates to bring down the rate of land acquisition, work could not begin due to the Covid pandemic.
The high cost of land acquisition was acting as a major stumbling block in four-laning of the highway in the state. The NHAI has refused to fund the project as the cost of land acquisition was much higher than the cost of the civil structure which would be raised to four-lane the road. As against the civil construction cost, estimated to be Rs 420 crore, the land acquisition cost has been estimated to be Rs 650 crore. As much as 54.9 hectare land was supposed to be acquired initially, which included 26 hectares in Haryana and 28 hectares in Himachal. Since this is an existing road, with an average right of way of about 24 m, the amount of Rs 650 crore for laying additional 21 m was considered to be too exorbitant.
Notably, Rs 124 crore has already been disbursed in Himachal to 1,604 of the 2,200 beneficiaries but the NHAI is yet to acquire the balance 4.43 hectares private land.
Though the road width has been reduced in Haryana to 24 m, it would not be wise to do so in Himachal as this highway faces a huge influx of vehicles, officials opine. The daily load on the highway was more than 25,000 vehicles, as per a survey conducted by the NHAI, they added.
