Chandigarh-Kharar flyover project: Ludhiana link to open on December 15

The Rupnagar link is expected to be opened by January 15 next year

Having missed several deadlines, the Mohali administration has finally set December 15 as the date for opening the Ludhiana link of the Chandigarh-Kharar flyover project, while the Rupnagar link is expected to get completed by January 15 next year.

Kharar sub-divisional magistrate Himanshu Jain, who met National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Larsen & Toubro officials on Wednesday, said that after reviewing the work, December 15 has been set as the deadline for opening the Ludhiana side of the flyover for vehicular traffic.

“The work is being done on a war footing and 88% has been completed. The Rupnagar side of the flyover will also be opened by January 15,” he said.

A senior NHAI official, who did not wish to be named, said the work on stretches near Desumajra and Sunny Enclave in Kharar will be completed as soon as the work on the Khanpur bridge is over.

“We are now in a hurry to complete the project as it is already delayed,” he said.

The national highway where the flyover is coming up connects Chandigarh to parts of Punjab besides Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. This leaves Kharar as a major bottleneck. About 50,000 vehicles cross the stretch on an average daily.

The project, which entails widening of the road between Balongi and Kharar T-point and includes construction of two flyovers and three minor bridges, has been hanging fire for the past five years. The total length of the flyovers (divided into three parts) is around 10km.

The ₹368-crore project being executed by Larsen & Toubro was initiated in November 2015 and has missed six deadlines, after initially poised to be completed in three years by December 2018. From delay in land acquisition to other administrative hurdles and mostly recently workforce issues amid the pandemic were the main reasons for the delay. The NHAI had recently opened 1-km stretch of the flyover starting from Balongi (called the Balongi flyover) for vehicular traffic.