Diversions and frequent traffic jams will continue to delay travel time for commuters on the Gurgaon-Jaipur road, as ongoing construction work for widening of the 225-km stretch is expected to take more than a year to complete.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has extended the deadline for the Rs1,895-crore project from September this year to June next year.
The entire four-lane route of NH-8, which connects this business hub to the Pink City, is being widened up to six lanes on both sides.
The construction work is being carried out by the Pinkcity Expressway Private Limited, a consortium company of ETA-KMC on BOT (Built, operate and transfer) basis.
As per the agreement, the construction work which was started in April 2009 had to be completed by September 30. However, the deadline has been revised by the NHAI due to delay in acquisition of extended areas along the road at some places.
“Following delays in land acquisition at some locations where there are built up structures such as shops, there was some snag in the project. We have revised the completion deadline from this September to June 2012, said Rakesh Gupta, the project director of NHAI.
“We have just finished with the acquisition process and have announced compensation award for property owners and the work on affected spots would resume soon,” Gupta said, adding that land acquisition was pending at Kotputli, Paota and Behror. The nine-month extended deadline will add to the woes of commuters who have been facing frequent traffic jams caused by dozens of diversions on the route, delaying the travel time by almost two hours.
{{/usCountry}}“We have just finished with the acquisition process and have announced compensation award for property owners and the work on affected spots would resume soon,” Gupta said, adding that land acquisition was pending at Kotputli, Paota and Behror. The nine-month extended deadline will add to the woes of commuters who have been facing frequent traffic jams caused by dozens of diversions on the route, delaying the travel time by almost two hours.
{{/usCountry}}To skip traffic congestion, some regular commuters have resorted to using an alternative route which is 50-kms longer. Commuters say through the alternative route, which splits from Dharuhera (Rewari) and reaches Dausa, they can save one hour and reach Jaipur in five hours.