Two-kilometre link between Artemis Road, Brig Osman Chowk to be revamped by December

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will start reconstructing a key two-kilometre-long internal road linking Artemis Road and Brigadier Osman Chowk (at the sector 56/57 traffic light) from November, officials said on Sunday, a day after the civic body floated a ₹1.88-crore tender for the project

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) will start reconstructing a key two-kilometre-long internal road linking Artemis Road and Brigadier Osman Chowk (at the sector 56/57 traffic light) from December, officials said on Sunday, a day after the civic body floated a ₹1.88-crore tender for the project.

The unnamed stretch is one of the most important arterial roads of the city as it is accessed by thousands of commuters daily, to bypass the busy Golf Course Extension (GCER). (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The unnamed stretch is one of the most important arterial roads of the city as it is accessed by thousands of commuters daily, to bypass the busy Golf Course Extension (GCER).

The road helps residents of sectors 49, 50, 51 and 52 bypass the traffic on GCER and Vikas Marg, and head directly towards Huda City Centre, Golf Course Road and the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road. Similarly, residents of sectors 42, 43, 53, 54, 55 and 56 (located along the Golf Course Road) use it to head directly towards Artemis Road, Nirvana Country and Vikas Marg, by bypassing the heavily congested GCER.

Despite its importance, the road is in a heavily degraded condition and riddled with potholes.

“The project essentially involves recarpeting the entire stretch. The bids for the tender will be opened on November 15 and subsequently, a contractor will be selected within 10 days. We are aiming to start and finish the work within December,” Sunder Sheoran, the executive engineer of MCG, who floated the tender on behalf of the civic body, said.

Sheoran said that once the project commences on the ground, it will take the contractor around three weeks to complete the work. In the tender, the MCG has given the contractor a maximum period of six months to complete the project from the date of allotment.

According to residents, the stretch has degraded further during the recent monsoon season.

“The stretch is in dire need of repairs as it is heavily potholed, which results in traffic congestion. Despite its condition, thousands of daily commuters continue to access the stretch as it helps them avoid travelling through busy stretches, such as GCER, and save around 10 minutes of travelling time. If the road is in an optimal condition, it will help commuters save another five minutes of travel time,” Saurabh Vikas, a resident of Sector 57, said.

Last week, MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja set a deadline of November 15 for the civic body officials to fix all roads in the city. Last month, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar also issued a similar directive to Gurugram’s public agencies, to fix all road stretches damaged during monsoon by November 30.

“The MCG aimed to complete the reconstruction project before the November 15 deadline. However, due to technical issues in the original tender, there was a delay and the tender had to be prepared afresh,” a senior MCG official, who did not wish to be named, said.