Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The proposed widening and improvement of the existing National Highway (NH) stretch from Kaliabor to Numaligarh, including the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) elevated road, to a 4-lane one is heading towards reality. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has entrusted the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) with the task of development, maintenance, and management of the Kaliabor-Numaligarh section of NH-37 (New NH-715).
NHAI has now invited bids for the work of widening and improving the existing carriageway in the Kaliabor-Numaligarh section of the NH to 4 lanes. Sources at NHAI said that the total length of the project is 85.67 km, and the estimated project cost has been pegged at Rs 5066.14 crore, including GST.
Recently, the National Board for Wildlife has given its nod to the project as a proposal for the use of 20.42 hectares (ha) of forest land from the core zone of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and 364.98 ha from its default eco-sensitive zone for the proposed project. The Supreme Court also stated earlier that it expects NHAI to complete the project at the earliest. The full name of the project is “Widening and Improvement of existing carriageway to 4 lane of Kaliabor-Numaligarh section of NH-37 (New NH-715) (from Ch. 315+315 to km. 400+900), including Implementation of Wildlife-Friendly Measures proposed on Kaziranga National Park (KNP) stretch in the State of Assam on Hybrid Annuity Mode under NH(O).”
The NHAI had also resolved to implement wildlife-friendly measures on the proposed Kaziranga National Park (KNP) stretch of four-laning of the project on a design, build, operate, and transfer (the “DBOT Annuity” or “Hybrid Annuity”) basis.
According to NHAI sources, of the total length of 85.67 km, a length of around 35 km will be elevated in the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) stretch of the project. In this stretch, a total of nine identified animal corridors at Panbari, Haldhibari, Bagori, Harmati, Kanchanjuri, Hatidandi, Deosur, Chirang, and Amguri are in existence. Special care will be taken regarding the animal corridors during construction of the project, the sources added.
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