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Relief for commuters as Greenfield project opens to public
The Greenfield Project entails an estimated expenditure of ₹1,400 crore, with ₹700 crore allocated for land acquisition and an equal amount for construction
After months of delays the much-awaited Greenfield project in Mohali was finally opened to the public on Monday, providing long-anticipated relief to commuters on the Airport Road and surrounding stretches.
Conceived to decongest Airport Road and offer an alternative corridor for Delhi-bound traffic heading towards Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, the project had missed its June and September deadlines earlier this year. It was later scheduled to open on December 1 but was delayed again after landowners and members of farmers’ unions staged protests, demanding an entry and exit road near the toll plaza. The issue was resolved after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) agreed to their demand.
There is only one toll plaza on the stretch, but it will not be operational initially as the toll rates are yet to be finalised.
The 31-km Greenfield stretch, developed under the Centre’s Bharatmala Pariyojana, connects IT Chowk (PR-7) near Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport with the Kurali–Chandigarh Road. Running along the outskirts of Mohali, the project is being executed by a Maharashtra-based firm that was awarded the contract in October 2022.
The project was conceptualised after the NHAI scrapped the 40-km Kharar–Banur–Tepla Road Project in July 2019 due to high projected costs. The Greenfield Project entails an estimated expenditure of ₹1,400 crore, with ₹700 crore allocated for land acquisition and an equal amount for construction.
The project has faced several setbacks in the past. In 2021, construction was stalled for eight months after landowners protested against the compensation initially offered. The NHAI subsequently approved a four-fold hike in compensation. While earlier rates ranged between ₹24 lakh and ₹4.18 crore per acre depending on location, landowners who were initially offered ₹24 lakh per acre are now receiving between ₹1 crore and ₹1.09 crore per acre.
