NEW DELHI, May 26: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will soon approach Public Private Partnership Approval Committee (PPPAC) to re-start work on the six-laning of the Panipat-Jalandhar road on National Highway 1.
The project which started in 2009 got delayed due to numerous reasons including land acquisition problem, delay in approval of design by Railways and relocation of the toll plaza.
“It will go to PPPAC and there it would be decided how to go about with the project,” a Road Ministry official told.
At present, the Karnal stretch of the project is completely stuck.
The project is likely to have a time overrun of 21 months. The original date of commissioning of the project was November, 2011 which has now been extended to August, 2013.
According to reports, the company building the project has sought extension of this deadline to December 2013 from the Delhi High Court.
The project is also likely to have cost overruns of over Rs 1,000 crore.
National Highways run over 1,557 km in Punjab and 1,633 km in Haryana.
In a bid to speed up the completion of highway projects running behind schedule, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the concessionaires to complete the project in time failing which it would be liable to pay a fine.
Public Private Partnership Approval Committee (PPPAC) comprises members Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary, Planning Commission, Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs and Secretary of the Department sponsoring a project. (PTI)
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