The Hindu : Front Page : Work on six-lane road begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 09, 2011
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

Work on six-lane road begins

R. Arivanantham

KRISHNAGIRI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded to Reliance Infrastructure Limited a contract to widen the existing four-lane National Highway No. 7 from Bangalore to Krishnagiri (chainage 33.130 to 93.0) into a six-lane road. The project will be implemented at a cost of Rs. 925 crore on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model.

The new structure will have three major flyovers, seven minor bridges, five vehicular underpasses and eight pedestrian underpasses.

It will be implemented on Design, Build, Finance, Operate (DBFO) pattern under the phase V programme of the National Highways Development Programme as part of the Golden Quadrilateral Project of NHAI.

According to NHAI, the project should be completed in 30 months from the date of the commencement of work. NHAI officials said work on the project began from zero hours on June 7.

A separate Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) called Hosur-Krishnagiri Toll Road Private Limited (HKTRL) has been established by Reliance Infrastructure Limited to implement the project. The SPV will collect toll and maintain the road for 26 years. After the expiry of 26 years it will be handed over to the government.

The Hosur-Krishnagiri toll road will have state-of-the-art Advanced Toll Management Services (ATMS) at the toll plazas to automate tolling and streamline the toll collection. Highway Toll Management System (HTMS) used on the project site will have CCTVs, speed detectors and other services to monitor traffic flow on the road. Reliance Infrastructure Limited will collect toll from the existing four-lane road and credit the proceeds to an escrow account.

These funds will be used on the basis of an escrow agreement to which NHAI is a party. The revenue generated from the toll collection cannot be used for any purpose other than for the work on the six-lane project.

NHAI officials said the toll rates were decided by the Ministry of Surface Transport through Fee Rules 2008. The company had no right to increase the toll rates, the officials said.

The rates charged would be 50 per cent over and above the existing ones, mainly because NHAI had not revised the existing rates for the last 10 years, a release from NHAI said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page