200-kilometre Ring Road mooted for Kolkata, likely cost at Rs 4,000 crore

The proposal of a 200-kilometre radius Ring Road has been mooted by Second Vivekananda Bridge Tollway Company Private Limited (SVBTC), which built Nivedita Setu over the Hooghly at Bally-Dakshineswar. The idea was discussed at the roundtable on Tuesday organised by the SVBTC.

The project cost is likely to be around Rs 4,000 crore. “The plan will be formulated and sent to the Central ministry. The fund can be organized after the proposal is sent to the central ministry as the budget has an allocation on such ring road projects in mega urban centres," said Lala K Roy, chairman of the advisory board for SVBTC.

“All major cities, Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, have outer ring roads,” Roy said.

During the round table, earlier Rajib Chattaraj, chief engineer, National Highway Wing of PWD, had said that the route from Barajaguli (NH-34), Kampa –Mogra-Dankuni (NH-2), Uluberia (NH-6), Budge Budge Bishnupur (NH-117) will act as the Northern and Western part of the Ring Road. Chattaraj also pointed out that southern and eastern part of the Ring Road may be planned via Bishnupur (Amtala NH117), Baruipur, Sonarpur, Bhangor Guma near Habra (NH35), Jeerut Barajaguli (NH34). If implemented, the outer-ring road will help decongest the city and streamline movement of goods and commercial vehicles and “its radial connectivity is of utmost necessity for ease of movement of traffic in and around Kolkata”.

Anjan Roy Chowdhury, CEO of SVBTC, said that the idea was well-conceived by various stakeholders, who participated in the roundtable. “West Bengal government, especially Public Works Department (PWD) officials, town planners, academicians and Police, Transport Department officials and experts from IIEST, Jadavpur University and Kharagpur IIT participated in the roundtable dialogue. However, it is in the conceptual stage,” Chowdhury said.