Chandigarh The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed 1,628km of access-controlled (elevated) expressways in Punjab, of which 1,100km are green-field (new) projects and 528km will be brown-field projects (extension of existing highways). For the first time in Punjab, three new roads will come parallel to the existing routes of Ambala-Zirakpur (40km), Amritsar-Bathinda (155km) and Mohali-Sirhind (27km). All these roads are part of the nationwide Bharatmala Pariyojana.
The cost of these projects, which have a completion deadline of three years when started in 2022, is ₹40,000 crore, including land compensation of ₹12,000 crore. “NHAI surveys show that 22,000 acre land will be acquired for these expressway projects,” said RP Singh, NHAI’s project head in Punjab.
There are 13 more expressway projects, including seven bypasses to take out traffic from within the main cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala, Malout, Mandi Dabwali and Phagwara.
