Moga deputy commissioner (DC) Kulwant Singh has now directed National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials to complete the work on National Highway 95 between Ludhiana and Talwandi Bhai (Ferozepur) through Moga by April 2023.
More than 10 years have passed since the four-laning work on the 78 km stretch of National Highway 95 had started. After missing several deadlines and despite the financial aid provided by the NHAI, the project is still far from fulfilment.
The project was to be achieved by 2017 and has since then missed six deadlines. About 10% of the construction work is still pending. Despite numerous extensions, the construction company failed to finish the project, and the roads it constructed also turned out to be of substandard quality. Most of the remaining work is on the stretch between Moga and Talwandi Bhai.
NHAI has been given an additional one-year extension and requested to finish the four-laning work in four phases. One month deadline has been fixed to repair the rainwater harvesting system along the 10 km stretch passing via Moga city, and pending construction work of the drain should be finished by June end.
A two-month deadline is fixed for the unfinished flyover at Ghal Kalan, while April 2023 deadline has been given to complete the rail overbridge (ROB) at Dagru.
The construction work on the National Highway 95 is still not completed. The administration has now issued fresh deadlines to NHAI to complete this project. The incomplete highway has resulted in several accidents in the area. NHAI has already floated a tender for the pending work of the Ghal Kalan flyover. The construction work status at ROB will be reviewed every two months.
He has also fixed a May-end deadline to establish streetlights on the complete stretch.
An official of NHAI said since the company which was allotted the project left midway, the highway authority will float separate tenders to finish work.
The official said some approvals for the remaining work completion are pending. So far, no firm has been decided as the tender process is ongoing.
The main reason behind the unnecessary delay in the completion of the project was the conflict between the contractor and subcontractors. The project was awarded to PAN India for Rs 692 crores in 2013, which further awarded the job to Varaha Infrastructure. The passing of the work almost kept the project at a halt for about two years — October 2013 to July 2015. Later, the construction project was again taken over by the Essel Group.
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