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The highly anticipated Sanathal road-widening project, aimed at easing traffic on the Ahmedabad-Bavla-Bagodara national highway, has hit a significant roadblock due to a dispute over land valuation. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are at odds over the cost of land needed for an extradosed bridge at the Sanathal crossroads, leading to a stalemate that could delay the project.
The disagreement centers on merging two service roads into the NHAI highway, covering 20,958 square meters, with the AMC estimating the cost at ?100 crore. Initially, the AMC planned to hand over the land to NHAI, but the current conflict emerged after AMC billed NHAI based on commercial land rates. In response, NHAI issued a land acquisition notification, sparking the standoff.
AMC officials express concern over NHAIs land acquisition move, particularly after the AMC standing committee approved the proposal to transfer the land to NHAI in February. The plan was to facilitate the construction of a new extradosed bridge, which combines features of prestressed box girder and cable-stayed bridges, over the existing flyover at Sanathal Circle on the SP Ring Road.
“A flyover has been constructed by Auda at Sanathal, but a bottleneck persists there. The Ahmedabad-Bavla-Bagodara National highway passes below the Sanathal flyover, creating a traffic snarl between Ujala circle and the junction,” says a senior AMC official. To alleviate this congestion, the state government proposed a highway widening project that includes a new extradosed bridge.
AMC originally suggested 7.5m and 12m service roads on either side of the SP Ring Road. Negotiations between AMC and NHAI led to an agreement to hand over the land in advance, with the cost to be settled later based on valuation. However, NHAIs move to acquire the land instead of purchasing it from AMC has disrupted this arrangement, complicating progress on the widening project.
A state government official, who requested anonymity, stated that the widening project, along with an extradosed bridge, a new railway overbridge, and an elevated flyover, would require acquiring land from AMCs town planning (TP) schemes. "NHAIs decision to acquire land under acquisition laws is unwarranted. The AMC standing committee had earlier agreed to transfer the land," the official said.
This disagreement between AMC and NHAI could delay the much-needed road-widening project, exacerbating traffic congestion and affecting local commuters. The outcome of this impasse will depend on negotiations and possible intervention by higher authorities to resolve the land valuation dispute. |
