NHAI to Construct 121-km Guwahati Ring Road via BOT

New Delhi/Guwahati, April 3 (NationPress) The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will construct a 121-km-long Guwahati Ring Road on a Build Operate Toll (BOT) basis, with a total investment of Rs 5,729 crore, as reported on Thursday.

On the same day, the NHAI finalized a concession agreement with M/s Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd based in Ahmedabad to initiate this significant initiative. Present at the signing were NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav and other senior officials.

The contract stipulates a 30-year concession period, which includes a four-year construction phase.

To support the project, the Assam government will cover 50 percent of the land costs, grant exemptions from aggregate royalties, and provide the state portion of GST, contributing approximately Rs 1,270 crore. The total gross project expenditure is estimated around Rs 7,000 crore.

The Guwahati Ring Road will comprise three segments, including a 56 km long 4-lane Access-Controlled Northern Guwahati Bypass, expansion of an existing 8 km bypass on National Highway-27 from four lanes to six, and enhancements to the current 58 km long bypass on NH-27.

A significant three km major bridge over the Brahmaputra River will also be constructed as part of this project, according to the statement.

The Guwahati Ring Road will ensure smooth connectivity for long-distance traffic traveling along the East-West Corridor of NH-27, which serves as the entry point to the northeast region of India. The development of the ring road will alleviate congestion in Guwahati City and neighboring northeastern states by rerouting substantial traffic from West Bengal and Bihar heading towards Silchar in southern Assam, as well as Nagaland and Tripura.

This initiative will also enhance connectivity for major towns in the area, such as Siliguri (in north Bengal), Silchar, Shillong, Jorhat, Tezpur, Jogigopha, and Barpeta.

The Union government has been advocating for Public-Private Partnerships in BOT projects. To facilitate the adoption of BOT model projects, several adjustments have been made to the Modal Concession Agreement (MCA) of BOT (Toll) and provisional BOT (Toll) recently.

This Guwahati Ring Road project marks the first contract signed under the revised modal concession agreement, potentially paving the way for additional such contracts. As part of the Centre's 'Vision 2047', numerous high-speed corridors are planned for development.

Strong Public-Private Partnerships in the road sector will be crucial in realizing this vision and will significantly contribute to the development, operation, and maintenance of a world-class National Highway network across the country.