Mohali: Greenfield project opens Sept 1, to help ease Airport Road snarls

A National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official said that 93% of the work is complete and the rest will be done by the last week of August

Come September 1 and the snarls on Airport Road may ease a bit, as the Greenfield Project, which will serve as an alternative route for Delhi traffic heading towards Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, will be thrown open to the public.

In 2021, the project had been put on hold for nearly eight months as landowners were protesting against the rates being offered for their land. (HT Photo)

A National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) official said that 93% of the work is complete and the rest will be done by the last week of August. “Though our deadline was June, we will be able to open the road to the public by September 1,” the official said.

The 31-kilometre road, being constructed under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana, runs from IT Chowk (PR-7) near Chandigarh International Airport to Kurali-Chandigarh road.

The NHAI had come up with this ₹1,400 crore project after scrapping the 40-km Kharar-Banur-Tepla road project in July 2019, owing to its high cost. A Maharashtra-based company was allotted the work in October 2022.

In 2021, the project had been put on hold for nearly eight months as landowners were protesting against the rates being offered for their land. The NHAI had then approved a four-fold increase in the compensation amount for landowners. While it was earlier paying between ₹24 lakh and ₹4.18 crore per acre, depending on the location, landowners have now been paid between ₹1 crore and ₹1.09 crore per acre.