30.6.08

Punjab's Expressway

The Punjab government has roped in Louis Berger, a US based space consultant to make a preliminary project report on developing a 60 km expressway between Lalru in Punjab and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Punjab Infrastructure and Development Board (PIDB) will be giving shape to Punjab's first inter-state express highway that will take two years to complete.The entire route will be fenced to keep stray animals out to ensure high speed.Louis Berger is already in the process of preparing the preliminary project report and plan for land acquisition. The project cost without land will be about Rs 1,500 crore and if land component was included it will be around Rs 2,500crore.The consultants were likely to submit technical report by next month and then global tenders are likely to be floated.The expressway will cater to NRI population too as an International Airport was coming up at Chandigarh shortly and the proposed expressway will provide a link to Phagwara belt, a 62-km stretch. He said to start with, the project envisages a six lane road that will gradually add four more lanes with two service roads on either side and subways to divert local traffic at intersections of towns and villages.The entire belt from Lalru to Baddi is chock a block with industries as such the proposed expressway will be a major boost to industrialisation in Punjab. In addition, the Punjab government is planning to upgrade road corridors including Balachaur-Garhshankar-Hoshiarpur-Dasua (105 km), Patiala-Samana-Patra (48.6 km), Hoshiarpur-Tanda (27.9 km), Moga-Baghapurana-Kotkapura (47.7 km), Kiratpur Sahib-Anandpur Sahib-Nangal-Una (35.7 km), Patiala-Malerkotla (60.2 km), Fazilka-Ferozepur (84.5 km), Dakha-Raikot-Barnala (57.9 km, Bhawanigarh-Nabha-Gobindgarh (55.5 km), Ropar-Phagwara (78 km) and Jagraon-Nakodar(37km).
In the second phase the Punjab government will take up five new road corridors on BOT basis including Batala-Beas road corridor (37.20 km), Amritsar-Tanda (17.89 km), Nakodar-Kartarpur (48.92 km), Hoshiarpur-Phagwara (35.5 km) and Sirhind-Morinda-Ropar Road Corridor (43.2 km). Total cost on these road corridors has been pegged at Rs250 crore.

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