Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday dedicated to the public the State’s first Ring Road promising to give reprieve from traffic chaos in the core areas of the State capital.
Sections III, IV, V and VI of Ranchi Ring Road constructed under the Jharkhand Accelerated Road Development Corporation was inaugurated at Palandu, about 15 km from the State capital. According to Soren, it will prove to be a boon for the transporters paving the way for development of the region.
The 36.192-km Ring Road costing Rs 477 crore — phases III, IV, V and VI — is among the first being executed under public-private partnership (PPP) in Jharkhand. It is also among the first as far as execution under BOT (built, own and transfer) annuity model is concerned.
Phase III starts from near Rampur along NH-33 (Ranchi-Jamshepdur road) till Tupudana (Ranchi-Khunti state highway) and Phase IV from Tupudana to NH-23 (Ranchi-Gumla road). Phases V and VI connect NH-23 with NH-75 (Ranchi-Daltonganj road).
Il&FS Transportation Networks limited, the agency has executed the project on behalf of JARDCl, a joint venture of the State Road Construction Department and Il&FS.
Work on these four phases was started in 2008-09, with a completion deadline of September 2012. But, land hiccups came in the way and the authorities decided to give the project a year more.
The four sections will reduce heavy vehicular traffic that currently passes through main city areas. Now, vehicles coming from Jamshedpur will take a detour near Rampur to go towards Khunti, Gumla, lohardaga and other districts.
Phases I and II of the Ring Road will be a greenfield thoroughfare, which will be part of NH-33 between Ranchi and Jamshedpur that is being widened to four lanes by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) at an estimated project cost of Rs 1,500 crore. The deadline for these two phases is June 2015.
The final Phase VII — connecting NH-75 (Ranchi-Daltonganj road) with NH-33 (Ranchi-Hazaribagh road) — is being constructed at a cost of Rs 156 crore.
“As this is the first six-lane road of the State, besides bringing overall expansion for Ranchi this road will also bring social and economic development to the adjoining areas… Plans for an Inner Ring Road are also being chalked out,” said Soren. It is the priority of the State Government to provide better roads to the people, he added.
“All-round efforts are being made by the State Government to become a part of the proposed business corridor from Chandigarh to Haldia Port which will open new avenues for the development of tourism sector in the State, along with mining and silk,” he added.
Soren stressed on presenting plants instead of bouquet to the dignitaries during inaugural ceremonies to promote plantation of trees along with the roads which will produce fruits in the future.
“We should not only play with the nature in the name of development rather, also give it something in return,” Soren said. Ranch MP Subodh Kant Sahay, on the other hand, appealed to all the parties and communities to cooperate for the development of the State while Urban Development Minister Suresh Paswan said that this road will succeed in giving a new direction to the development of the State.