NHAI resumes underpass and elevated U-turn work

Gurgaon: Nearly a month after the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) stalled the work on Ambience Mall underpass and elevated U-turn near Shankar Chowk for lack of funds, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) released its share. With the disbursement of funds, NHAI has resumed the work on the projects which had temporarily stopped on June 28.
The total cost of the project is around Rs 162 crores. NHAI has a share of about Rs 66 crore and GMDA has a share of Rs 14.72 crore. Remaining amount is split between DLF and Ambience Mall.
According to the sources, NHAI had used up its share of funds and hence had to halt the work. “We have disbursed Rs 10 crore so that work can begin immediately,” said a GMDA official requesting anonymity.
Sources in NHAI have confirmed receiving the payment. “If we receive the remaining funds on time, we will be able to complete the work by September this year,” said an NHAI official.
The work on the project had begun in March 2019, with a deadline of September 2020. However, the first hurdle the project faced was the NGT ban on construction due to the rising pollution levels in NCR. The work had stopped for almost four months.
The work had barely gained momentum when it again stopped due to the lockdown announced earlier this year. NHAI resumed the work towards the end of April but with a shortage of labour and other challenges, it progressed at a very slow speed. Eventually, the construction work stopped again in June due to unavailability of funds.