NHAI to develop 121-km long Guwahati Ring Road for Rs 5,729 crore

Agreement signed in presence of NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways on April 3 announced that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a concession agreement to develop the 121-km long Guwahati Ring Road in Assam on Build Operate Toll (BOT) mode.

The agreement has been signed with Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon. The road will be built at a total cost of Rs 5,729 crore on Build Operate Toll (BOT) mode with zero grant. In its press release, the ministry further added that the concession period of the contract is 30 years, including construction period of four years. Notably, Assam's state government will bear 50 percent of the land cost, provide exemption from royalty on aggregates as well as state portion of GST amounting to nearly Rs 1,270 crore. The gross cost of the project therefore stands at around Rs 7,000 crore.

The project will comprise three sections, including the 56 km-long four-lane access-controlled Northern Guwahati Bypass, widening of the existing 8-km bypass on NH 27 from four lanes to six lanes, and improvement of the existing 58-km long bypass on NH 27. Additionally, the project will also encompass the construction of a 3-km long major bridge over river Brahmaputra.

MoRTH said that the project will improve connectivity to North-East region by reducing the traffic on the East-West Corridor of NH-27. "The development of the Ring Road will help to decongest Guwahati City and neighboring North- Eastern states by bypassing major traffic coming from West Bengal/Bihar to Silchar, Nagaland and Tripura. The project will also provide seamless connectivity to major towns in the region including Siliguri, Silchar, Shillong, Jorhat, Tezpur, Jogigopha, and Barpeta," the ministry added.

"As a part of Government of India's 'Vision 2047', a large number of high-speed corridors are envisaged to be developed. Robust Public Private Partnership in development of road sector will play a pivotal role in realizing this vision and will greatly contribute towards the development as well as Operations and Maintenance of the world class National Highway Network in the country," it further said.