17 structures delinked from NH-8 project

September 12, 2013

TNN |

JAIPUR: For early completion of the Jaipur-Gurgaon stretch of National Highway-8 , the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has re-structured the project by delinking the 17 most contentious structures, giving some relief to the concessionaire and the state government.With only 32 out of the total 83 structures completed till date, the authority has deleted nine of them from the blueprint. In 17 others, officials claimed that work is going at adequate speed. NHAI is targeting to set up another eight by March 2014. The 17 de-linked structures will be taken into consideration only on availability of land.

“In our meeting with the state government earlier, we expressed our inability to continue with the original scope of work. We have delinked 17 structures from the project and will take them up later based on availability of land. This will allow us to focus on other portions where land is available and complete them at the earliest ,” a senior official of NHAI said.

The delinking will have its impact on nearly 8-10 km of the stretch where it will have rough patch while the rest of the route can be expected to be smooth. Highlighting the need for taking such a decision, A K Mishra, regional manager of NHAI, said, “Our aim is to provide clear passage to the commuters so that they face minimum inconvenience and enjoy their ride between Jaipur and Delhi. Restructuring will also give us room to carry forward the work in areas where it can be done at the earliest and coming on other portions later.”

The meeting held on Tuesday between officials of the state government and NHAI too resolved down several contentious issues. The state government has allowed the developer to carry out work at Sanjay Van and also agreed to shift two HT lines from the Jaipur bypass.

On the insistence of the state government, NHAI assured to construct the 12 government buildings which will demolished for the project. It also assured of taking up of maintenance work on the diversion if the concessionaire fails to complete it in 60 days of time.

However, nodecision was made on the issue of charging toll tax in the wake of incomplete work on the road.

The matter has been kept in abeyance and will be discussed later.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com