Ambala-Rohtak-Bawal expressway to come up in Haryana

Chandigarh, Apr 18 (UNI) Buoyed by the success of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway and the resultant response in economic development in the area, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has decided to develop a new transportation axis in the form of Ambala-Rohtak-Bawal (ARB) Expressway.

Disclosing this here today, Mr Rajeev Arora, Managing Director of the Corporation informed the objective of the Expressway is to develop a vertical axis right from the Rajasthan border on NH-8 near Bawal up to the Punjab border on NH-22 north of Ambala.

The alignment of the proposed Expressway has been done to open up the industrially backward areas of district Kaithal, Jind, Rohtak, Bhiwani and Mahindergarh for investments.

He said that this would also enable vertical integration of the National Capital Region (NCR) with the northern part of the state besides easing vehicular pressure on the roads within NCR. Besides reducing the road distance from Chandigarh to Bawal, the Expressway shall provide safety of life on the already overburdened existing highways, particularly the NH-1.

The new proposed alignment will originate from NH-22, that is village Dangdheri on NH-22 and after crossing NH-1 to the north-west of Ambala city, it will cross Kurukshetra-Pehowa road, Karnal-Kaithal road further down. The expressway will then pass east of Asandh and west of Saffidon, will cross NH-10, west of Rohtak and then after crossing the Charkhi Dadri- Jhajjar road, west of Rewari town will finally join NH-8 near Bawal, 4 kms before the Rajasthan border.

He said that the proposed Expressway would have a length of about 267 kms from Ambala to Bawal and reduce a distance of about 50 kms from Ambala via KMP Expressway to NH-8 and Bawal. The land required for this project will be about 6600 acres and half of the length of the Expressway, that is about 130 kms would fall within the NCR and 137 kms outside the NCR.

The total cost of this project has been estimated at Rs 4400 crore for which HSIIDC proposes to approach the NCR planning board for soft funding with long gestation period besides exploring other sources of finance.

Mr Arora said that the HSIIDC had decided to undertake a feasibility study for the proposed ARB Expressway for which a consultant was being appointed. The feasibility report will include the origin and destination survey along with traffic composition.

Based on the traffic volume and its composition, a model for executing this project on BOT basis will also be worked out, he added.

UNI