Nine Haryana highway projects in slow lane

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 1

The Covid-induced lockdown, land acquisition issues and default by contractors have cast shadow on the completion of national highway projects in Haryana. Out of 40 ongoing projects, nine projects have been delayed due to various reasons.

The delay varies from project to project and ranges between eight and 53 months. The six-laning of Delhi-Agra section of NH-2 is running much behind schedule, mainly because of delay in land acquisition, shifting of utilities and forest clearances.

Similarly, the construction of four-laned Pinjore bypass and road over bridges (at 1.8 km on NH 65) at Ambala has been delayed by 18 months. Also, the construction of four-laning in km 99 to 114.375 and Bhiwani bypass from km 125.920 has been delayed.

Further, the two-laning with paved shoulder of Bhiwani-Mundal-Jind Road and paved shoulder from Jind-Gohana Road, which were supposed to be completed by March 2020, is now expected to be completed by April this year. Also, the Dwarka Expressway at Delhi-Haryana border has been delayed by nine months.