After delay of more than a year, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has stepped in to save the Kozhikode bypass widening project from getting stuck in the bureaucratic maze and from financial embarrassment.
NHAI chairman Nagendra Nath Sinha has informed M.K. Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, that the autonomous body under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will accept the performance bank guarantee of ₹85 crore from the Hyderabad-based company that had secured the contract for constructing the six-lane bypass stretching from Vengalam to Idimuzhikkal.
The agreement for the ₹1,710-crore project was signed between the NHAI and Krishna Mohan Construction Private Limited (KMC) on April 18, 2018.
The company had failed to secure the bank guarantee of ₹85.50 crore and the project had been hanging fire for 16 months.
Laying of foundation
Mr. Raghavan said the chairman had also said that Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari would lay the foundation stone for the project.
The procedures for financial closure and appointment of an engineer to oversee the work would be initiated shortly.
The 28.8-km bypass will also be the first project in the State cleared by the Centre after the relaxation of rules regarding the hybrid annuity mode.
The expansion of the bypass is part of Phase III of the National Highway Development Project.
The expansion of the Kozhikode bypass which was to begin in last September is expected to solve traffic problems at Malaparamba, Thondayad and Ramanattukara.
