March 8, 2002

‘25’

AWARDING OF CONTRACTS FOR GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL COMPLETED

    The Union Minister of State (Independent charge) for Road Transport and Highways, Maj. Gen. B. C. Khanduri, AVSM (Retd.) today stated that the awarding of contracts for the Golden Quadrilateral, that is Phase-I of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), has been completed in February 2002 and the way is now clear for substantial completion of the Golden Quadrilateral by December, 2003. He was talking to mediapersons, here. The NHDP is a major initiative towards qualitative and quantitative enhancement of the National Highways, involving development and 4/6 laning of about 13,150 km of road at a cost of over Rs. 54,00 crore.

    Speaking on the occasion, Gen. Khanduri recalled how apprehensions were expressed about the success of the mega-project when the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sh. Atal Behari Vajpayee had announced it on October 24, 1998. However, the wholehearted support of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the hard work of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, especially the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), is going to result not only in completion, but rather before time completion of Prime Minister’s dream project, the Minister said.

    Gen. Khanduri said that the high-density corridor linking Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata (popularly called Golden Quadrilateral) comprises 5,846 Km. Out of this, a length of 1,063 km. has been already completed, he informed. The contracts for the balance have been awarded except for the Allahabad Bypass that was delayed due to problems like land acquisition etc. but this section too will be awarded very soon, he said.

    Regarding NHDP contracts, Gen. Khanduri informed that currently, 146 contracts are being implemented at a cost of Rs. 23,668 crore. Out of this, 95 contracts (worth Rs. 12, 788 crore) have gone to Indian firms, 38 contracts (worth Rs.7, 130 crore) have gone to Joint Ventures and only 13 contracts (worth Rs. 3,750 crore) have gone to foreign firms. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that the Indian firms have been sidelined, he asserted.

    The Chairman, NHAI, Sh. Deepak Dasgupta informed that NHAI has taken up the conversion of existing 4-lane Delhi-Gurgaon Section of NH-8 into Access Controlled Eight/Six lane Highway from km. 14.30 (Junction of Rao Tula Ram Marg on NH-8 in Delhi) to km. 42.0 (Haryana). The developed facility would incorporate all the essential features of a world class highway which broadly includes the widening of existing Delhi-Gurgaon highway (from Km. 14/300 to Km. 36/630) to 8 lanes and providing grade separated intersections at all at grade junctions. This facility would greatly reduce journey time, vehicle operating costs and provide traffic comforts with increase in average travel speeds and reduced accident rates. The most interesting part of the Contract is that instead of the usual practice of giving grant to the concessionaire, in this case the Government will be getting an amount of Rs. 61.06 crore. The expressway is likely to become operational by April, 2005. The cost will be recovered by the concessionaire through toll for a fixed concession period of 20 years.