BRTS budget to be hiked

AHMEDABAD: The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) planned on a 13.6-km stretch of city roads will now take its budget a notch higher. The Narol-Naroda BRTS stretch has been designed afresh after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) informed Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) that the stretch is part of NHAI's Golden Quadrilateral Highway project.
"The project guidelines call for six-lane roadways.As the BRTS route on the Narol-Naroda stretch falls under the project, the existing four-lane design had to be revised and a new plan for a six-lane road was made. This has increased the budget of the split bridges at Thakkarbapanagar and Soni-ni-chali by 20 per cent and the Narol-Naroda road by about 6 to 8 per cent," said Dilip Mahajan, deputy municipal commissioner (finance).
From the estimated Rs 25 crore for the Thakkarbapanagar split bridge, the new estimate has gone up to Rs 30 crore. Similarly, for Soni-ni-chali bridge, it has risen from Rs 18.21 crore to Rs 21.85 crore and for the Narol-Naroda road, from Rs 89.36 crore to about Rs 95 crore.
NHAI approved the new design last week. The AMC is now awaiting final permission from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. "The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission will be contacted thereafter," said municipal commissioner IP Gautam.
The Rs 493-crore BRTS project has been sanctioned by the JNNURM,with the Government of India funding 35 per cent of the total amount. The increase in budget will lead to a fresh approval from JNNURM.
"The design had to be made afresh because NHAI later felt that the carriageway for traffic, on either side of the bus route, cannot be four-lane," Mahajan added. The upgraded design has led to road extension from nine metres to 11 metres and the reconstitution of various components of design such as the carriageway, which has been increased from 8.5 m to 10 m on either side of the bus route. Besides, either side of the split bridge will now have three lanes each from the earlier two lanes, thus making it six lanes.
Tenders for the Narol-Naroda stretch had already been delayed because of the pending NHAI permission. They were floated in February this year and work was proposed to be completed by July, 2008.
Now,work will begin only after JNNURM approves the new proposal. From the date of commencement, it will take 21 months to be completed, Mahajan said.