The state government approved a ring road project, worth ₹1,500 crore and connecting five national highways, in Ambala.
The 39-kilometre road will be constructed that will work as a bypass to ease traffic congestion in the twin city.
As per the plan, the ring road will start near Saddopur village on NH-152 (Ambala-Chandigarh highway) and will link with NH-72 (Ambala-Roorkee highway, now NH-344) at Handesra village. The villages the road will connect are Kakru, Mandor, Khatauli and Panjokhara Sahib.
Similarly, the ring road from NH-72 will connect with NH-444A (Ambala-Saha highway) at Khudda Kalan. In between, villages like Kalharhedi, Boh, Sharifgarh, Chandpura will be covered. Further, NH-444A will be linked with NH-44 (Delhi-Amritsar highway or GT Road) at Mohra village.
The GT Road will finally connect with NH-65 (Ambala-Hisar highway) at Balana village of the city. In between, village areas like Shahapur, Machounda, Machoundi, Meerapur, Ugara, Matedi Jattan, Saunda, Rupo Majra, Sarangpur will be covered.
The project was earlier approved by Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari and now the state government has decided to bear 50% of the project cost, a statement from home minister Anil Vij’s office read.
Vij further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will start the process of land acquisition of 177.75 hectares in the next 10 days.
‘I had met the Union minister and apprised him that the project will do away with traffic issues arising due to heavy vehicles in Cantt and City areas, and will give a boost to overall development,’ said Vij in the statement on Wednesday.
NHAI will reimburse the cost of land acquisition and shifting of utilities shared by the state government as and when the cost is recovered by NHAI by way of toll collection, an official notification read.
NHAI project director Virender Singh couldn’t be reached for a comment, but officials familiar with the project details said that on an average more than 30,000 heavy vehicles pass through Ambala every day and the ring road will be a panacea for traffic jams.
Vehicles coming from Hisar, Chandigarh, Amritsar, bound for UP, Delhi, Uttarakhand or Himachal, will have an option to bypass Ambala. Similarly, traffic coming from Delhi or Yamunanagar going towards Punjab or Chandigarh will need not enter urban areas of Cantt or City.
The notification further added, ‘A digital display board will be installed at toll plazas showing the project cost, the amount recovered through toll collection and period of levy of toll for the project cost. The display will be dynamic and the amount recovered shall be updated as when any vehicle pays the toll.’