Haryana Government on Monday announced that the 136-km-long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway project spanning five districts would be completed in less than three years time now. The construction work on the Expressway, slated to pass through Sonepat, Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Mewat and Palwal districts, has been put on fast track with the Chief Minister Manoharlal, giving his approval for resuming work on the project in two phases Manesar-Palwal and Manesar-Kundli, said a spokesman of Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructural Development Corporation (HSIIDC), which is the executing agency of the development of this Expressway.
He said that this Expressway would be six-lane. While the Manesar-Palwal section would be completed in nine months, the Manesar-Kundali section would be completed in a period of two years. He said that the completion of this project would not only provide high speed link to the northern Haryana with its southern districts like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal but also de-congest National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi as the traffic from the northern parts of the country destined to other regions need not pass through NCT of Delhi, thus reducing pollution tremendously.
Earlier, concessionaire not only failed to complete the work in time but also raised unjustified claims which led to inordinate delay in the project. But now, the state government has decided to complete this project in a time bound manner. The new concessionaire would commence the work within one month after getting the contract, said the spokesperson adding that the HSIIDC has initiated the transparent process of inviting bids for both BOT basis for the balance work of 136 km and simultaneously on item rate basis for Manesar-Palwal Section of expressway.
The Supreme Court in its order dated January 30, 2015 had directed the State Government to award the contract for the project to new concessionaire within two months time and the new concessionaire shall commence the work within one month time thereafter. HSIIDC had issued a notice to the bankers to substitute the concessionaire failing which the earlier contract would stand terminated on account of event of default.
The spokesperson of HSIIDC said that to implement the orders of Supreme Court in right earnest, bids have already been invited on BOT basis for the entire stretch. Any interested project proponent can submit the bids till 20 March 2015. “To ensure that the project takes off within the timeframe prescribed by the Supreme Court, HSIIDC will shortly come up with another alternate bid whereby the Palwal-Manesar stretch will be offered on item rate basis, while the remaining stretch of Manesar-Kundli will be offered on BoT annuity basis,” he added.