33 national highway projects worth Rs 5,573cr delayed in Punjab | Chandigarh News

Chandigarh: As many as 33 national highway projects, total 580.49-km length and Rs 5,573.56-crore cost, under construction in Punjab are running behind schedule.
In response to a question by Congress’s Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Union minister of road transport and highways submitted in the Lok Sabha that delay in land acquisition, utility shifting and forest clearances are some of the key reasons for these projects not meeting the target dates of completion.
Of the total, in 29 projects state public works department (PWD) is the nodal agency, while four projects are being executed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). In as many as eight projects worth Rs 463 crore, work has been awarded but the work has not commenced.
Punjab has been among the worst-hit states in the country, forcing the state government to impose strict restrictions, including lockdowns and curfews during the first and second wave of infection, hindering the development works. At present, Punjab has 71,912 km of the road network, of which 2,677 km is classified as national highways and 1,097 km as state highways.
The worst-hit projects include 77-km stretch from Moga-Tallewal section of NH-71 being made at a cost of Rs 904.82 crore and 49-km-long Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur section of NH-70 with a sanctioned cost of Rs 1,069.59 crore. Both the projects are going to miss the revised deadline of August 2021 and June 2022.
The other key projects running behind the schedule include four-laning of Talwandi Bhai to Ferozepur; four-laning of Bathinda to Malout; upgradation to two-lane of NH-354 section from Ferozepur-Muktsar-Malout and rectification of black spots on different roads.
With third wave projected to hit by August later this year, the completion of these projects is likely to be further delayed as the state government will be forced to reinforce restrictions as soon as there is an upward movement in daily cases of infection.
As per the plan formulated to tackle the third-wave, strict lockdown-like curbs will again be clamped if the positivity rate breaches the 5% limit suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO).