E-Paper
NHAI’s ₹700-crore project to decongest Mohali’s Airport Road
400 acres acquired in Mohali villages to construct the greenfield alignment that will also help decongest Chandigarh and Zirakpur roads
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is set to begin work on ₹700-crore greenfield alignment to decongest the Airport Road in Mohali by providing an alternative route to traffic moving from Delhi side to Himachal Pradesh, J&K and parts of Punjab.
A greenfield road is built in an area that has never been developed or built up. The 32-kilometre road from IT City Chowk near the Chandigarh International Airport to the Kurali-Chandigarh road will be 60-foot wide and cross Nagiari and Devi Nagar villages among others. It will also help further decongest roads in Chandigarh and Zirakpur.
The NHAI has already acquired around 400 acres of land in 28 villages, and compensation ranging from ₹55 lakh to ₹4.12 crore per acre has been announced depending upon whether the land is outside or within the municipal limits.
Work to begin in a month
According to an NHAI official, who did not wish to be named, Ashoka Buildcon Limited has been finalised to begin work on the project within a month.
Mohali district revenue officer (DRO) Gurjinder Singh Benipal said: “Land acquisition process has been completed and we have received ₹100 crore to be given to the landowners of around 10 villages. We will soon disburse the amount.”
In February 2020, Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari had taken up the matter of an alternative route with Union minister Nitin Gadkari, following which the ministry in its letter had stated that the NHAI was checking the feasibility of a greenfield section. After scrapping the project to widen the 40-km Kharar-Banur-Tepla road in July 2019, the NHAI has come up with this project. The previous project was scrapped owing to its high cost. The NHAI will also widen the 40-km stretch from IT City Chowk to Ambala, via Banur and Tepla, to six lanes.
GMADA to widen Airport Road
In view of heavy traffic and frequent road mishaps, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) is all set to widen a 6-km stretch of the Airport Road starting from Chhat village leading up to Sector 82.
At present the stretch has two 33-foot-wide carriageways, which will be widened to 44-foot each. A senior GMDA official said the proposal had been prepared, “but we are waiting for approval from the authorities concerned”.
