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State Government | Himachal Pradesh - India | PID: 184666
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State’s most ambitious four-lane highway project between Shimla and Matour in Kangra is touted to be one of the best highways in the hilly terrain and will act as a new lifeline for commuters. It will cost over Rs 10,000 crore to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
Though the project is running far behind schedule, the 225-km four-lane project, once complete, will reduce the distance between Shimla and Matour (Kangra) by 45 km. Significantly, the construction of the NH-88 (now renamed as NH-103) as four-lane highway was announced by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on June 6, 2016, when he visited Hamirpur
The NHAI has divided the construction of this four-lane project in five packages, which includes the stretch from Shimla to Shalaghat (Solan); Shalaghat to Nauni Chowk in Bilaspur; Bagher Bilaspur to Kohli in Hamirpur; Kohali to Jwalamukhi bypass and Jwalamukhi bypass to Kangra bypass. The NHAI hired Inter Continental Consultants and Technocrats for carrying out a survey for the preparation of DPRs. The company, however, failed to meet the deadline (November 2018) for the preparation of DPRs
After observing delays in the preparation of the DPRs, the HP High Court intervened in the matter in public interest and directed both NHAI and the company hired to complete the DPRs by April 30, 2019. It also maintained that in the event of any delay, it would be constrained to impose exemplary costs on the consultant
Meanwhile, reliable sources said the company has completed the preparation of two packages, including Matour to Jwalamukhi, which is already notified and Jwalamukhi to Kohli in Hamirpur, which were pending for final approvals
Will reduce distance by 45 km (from 225 km to 180 km)
The stretch will have 9 tunnels, 4 high-rise bridges
It will bypass major towns, including Darlaghat, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Jwalamukhi
Three toll plazas would come up near Ghanatti, Hamirpur and Jwalamukhi
The speed limit would be 60 km/hour and the travel time would reduce from average 5:30 hours to 4 hours by car. The fuel consumption will also reduce by 20%
Lesser curves on the road will reduce the accident probability, thereby providing more safety to road users
The longest tunnel of over 4,000-m on the four-lane NH-103 would be between Shalaghat and Piplu Ghat
First grid-based highway of the state
Keeping in mind the fragile hills of the state and repeated landslides on highways, the 180-km Shimla-Matour four-lane highway project would be the first NH to be constructed by using grid-based road technology. This will reduce the maintenance cost and provide safe passage. The grid-based technology saves the hills from vertical cutting and the first lane is constructed on a higher slope and then the second lane at a lower slope. This makes a grid of two separate roads running parallel on the hill Technical experts claim that though the construction of grid-based roads is expensive by 20 per cent, the cost is compensated as it saves on the maintenance cost in years ahead
Divided into 5 packages
The project is divided into five packages of various lengths from Shimla to Matour
1 Shimla to Shalaghat (Solan)
2 Shalaghat to Nauni Chowk
3 Bagher to Hamirpur
4 Hamirpur to Jwalamukhi
5 Jwalamukhi to Matour
The compensation and govt’s hesitation
The NHAI is giving land compensation as per ‘factor-one’ rule, which says that the compensation be giving to land owners at double the cost of existing average cost of land in the area. Land owners, however, demanded compensation as per ‘factor-two’ rule, which enables them to get four times more than the existing average cost of the land in respective patwar circle. Significantly, the total cost of the compensation amount of such projects is paid by the Centre (NHAI), as it had already notified that it would give compensation as per the direction of the state government
The state government, however, is hesitant in giving compensation as per the factor-two rule, apprehending burden on the state exchequer. The respective governments may have felt that if the compensation for Centrally sponsored projects is given at the rates of factor-two rule, then the state would be forced to pay compensation for state sponsored projects on similar rates, which would be beyond the capacity of the already fund-starved and under-debt government in Himachal
Yogender A Raut, project director, NHAI, said: "The project has to be completed in three years, once it is awarded for construction to the company. This will be one of the best highways in the hilly terrain, as every care will be taken to avoid sharp curves. The estimated cost would stand close to Rs 10,000 crore, as this would also include the cost of compensation for acquiring land from private stakeholders." The grid-based technology proposed to construct the highway would provide more safety to road users and would be less expensive for maintenance, he said. Raut said the DPRs would be completed by April and the land acquisition process for the fifth package has already been started
Landowners’ plight
As the DPR of the fifth package was ready, the NHAI had started land acquisition on the Matour-Jwalamukhi stretch of the highway. This, however, caused resentment among landowners as they were not satisfied either by the alignment of the highway or by the compensation calculated, following which they tried to speak to the project officer in Hamirpur, but were not satisfied. Many of them moved court for relief. NHAI started the tendering process and a tender was proposed to open on July 25, 2018. But in the wake of litigation, the work on the first stretch between Matour and Jwalamukhi was yet to be initiated
Alignment between Shimla and Matour
The NHAI tried to use maximum length of the existing NH-88 (now renamed NH-103), yet it bypassed major bottlenecks and towns to avoid displacement of habitations and save on compensations
Starting from Shimla, with a tunnel close to the government printing press, the highway will have four tunnels till it reaches Hira Nagar. The existing road would continue till 7 km ahead of Ghanatti and a new track would be constructed to avoid curves near the judicial complex to reach Shalaghat in package one
In package two, from Shalaghat to Nauni Chowk, the highway would bypass Kraraghat, Darlaghat and Chamakadi Pul. The highway would move towards Arki to reach Piplu Ghat and converge with the existing highway close to Bhararighat via Dhundhan. A tunnel of over 4,000-m length is proposed in this track before Piplu Ghat
The package would use the existing track by improving curves till Nauni Chowk, 8 km before Bilaspur. This will connect with the link to Kiratpur to Manali Highway and use the same highway till Bhager village, from where the third package between Bhager to Kohali in Hamirpur would start
The NHAI had proposed to use the existing highway for the four-lane highway, but had made minor diversions to avoid curves. The fourth package would start from near Kohali and pass through Lahar, Khaggal, Baleta and converge with the existing NH-103 at Cheel Bahal and continue on the existing alignment till Dosarka
To avoid congestion of Nadaun town, the highway is diverted towards left to cross the Beas near Nadaun gurdwara and would connect with the existing NH ahead of Baroli in district Kangra till the proposed NH bypass at Jwalamukhi
The fifth package of the four-lane NH between Jwalamukhi bypass to Matour would again use the existing NH with minimum changes on the existing NH, but it will experience a major change ahead of Daulatpur village, where two parallel tunnels of over 600-m are proposed. The north port of the tunnels will open facing Kangra town to connect with Kangra bypass
Officialspeak
The project has to be completed in three years, once it is awarded for construction to the company. This will be one of the best highways in the hilly terrain, as every care will be taken to avoid sharp curves. The estimated cost would stand close to Rs 10,000 crore, as this would also include the cost of compensation for acquiring land from private stakeholders. The grid-based technology proposed to construct the highway will provide more safety to road users and will be less expensive for maintenance. The DPRs will be completed by April and the land acquisition process for the fifth package has already been started. —Yogender A Raut, Project director, NHAI
| Updated on: 19 - Jan - 2019
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