Encroachments hold up Badshahpur-sohna road
GURUGRAM: The BadshahpurSohna road project has slowed down due to encroachments and utility cables and electrical poles in the way, according to officials of t he National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The NHAI also needs to acquire few land parcels, which is delaying the contractor, but officials are optimistic that the project will be completed before its deadline in 2021.
NHAI officials said that the main reason for the delay is clearing encroachments from the Badshahpur side of the project.
Ashok Sharma, proj e c t director NHAI, said, “NHAI has removed about 300 unauthorised structures on the BadshahpurSohna road project. The first package (Rajiv Chowk to Badshahpur) had the maximum number of encroachments. We are still waiting for physical possession of some land parcels, which has been acquired by the authorities concerned, for this project. With the encroachments being removed and a need to acquire land, we can say that work on the first package has slowed down a bit. The second package (Badshahpur to Sohna) has fewer encroachments and that is going as per the plan.”
There are 404 encroachments in both the packages and 20 parties have moved the court in this regard. The NHAI official added that around 10% work has been done in the first package, while 30% of the work in the second one is complete.
“If the encroachments were not there in the first phase, 30% work would have been completed by now,” the senior NHAI official said.
The project is divided in two phases. Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt Ltd is responsible for the first stretch (6 km), while HG Infrastructure is carrying out construction on the second stretch (12.72 km). “Encroachments are being removed and this has slowed the pace of our work. Besides, utilities such as electrical poles and cables need to be removed,” an official of Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt Ltd said.
Work on the project started in
NHAI has removed about 300 unauthorised structures... The first package (Rajiv Chowk to Badshahpur) had the maximum number of encroachments. We are still waiting for physical possession of some land parcels... From the next month, we will start making the side walls of the underpass. A service lane is being carved out at Subhash Chowk so that commuters won’t have an issue when work on the underpass starts
ASHOK SHARMA, project director NHAI
June.
NHAI has also planned for shifting the electrical utilities. “A ₹60 crore tender will be made after a few days for the removal of utility lines from this stretch. Since the Badshahpur-sohna road project is densely populated, the work is not picking pace,” an NHAI official said.
Faced with hurdles, the contractor is widening the Subhash Chowk road for work on the underpass to start. “From the next month, we will start making the side walls of the underpass. A service lane is being carved out at Subhash Chowk so that commuters won’t have an issue when work on the underpass starts,” Oriental Structural Engineers Pvt Ltd official said.
The first phase will involve the construction of an underpass AN OFFICIAL OF ORIENTAL STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS PVT LTD SAID,
at Subhash Chowk and a a fivekilometre elevated section between Subhash Chowk and Badshahpur.
The second phase would comprise flyovers and underpasses at important crossings up to Sohna, including a toll plaza at Ghamroj. The total cost of the project is ₹1,313 crore.
Sunil Kumar, NHAI consultant for the second package, said, “Work is going on smoothly. There are a few hurdles and they will be removed as construction picks pace.” It was in August 2016 that the NHAI had declared the 95-km stretch from Rajiv Chowk up to Naugaon, at the Haryana-rajasthan border, a national highway. Around 50,000 vehicles travel between Rajasthan and Haryana through Sohna Road every day, as per NHAI records.