Road ministry, Plan panel lock horns over Golden Quadrilateral

Trouble seems to be brewing between the road transport ministry and the Planning Commission on the six-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), a highway network connecting the country’s four largest metropolises — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

While the Plan panel is pitching for six-laning of the entire 5,846 kilometres (km) of the GQ at one go, the ministry is of the opinion that the upgrading should be on a case-to-case basis, depending on the traffic.

“Upgrading of the GQ is a policy decision of the government. We are likely to take it forward from the next year. Tenders will be called depending on the traffic density of a particular stretch,” transport minister CP Joshi told DNA.

Transport ministry officials, however, shared on conditions of anonymity that despite the Planning Commission’s insistence on upgrade to six-laning of the entire GQ at one go, the ministry does not favour the idea owing to the high cost entailment.

Meanwhile, no official communication between the ministry and the Plan panel has taken place yet on the matter. A senior transport ministry official said, “Planning Commission is of the view that the six-laning job should be taken up at once. It, however, needs to be understood that it may not be feasible unless the traffic demands upgrade. It will be a fiscal load.”

The entire GQ is a now four-laned corridor. The upgrade to six-lane is part of phase V of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). A total of 6,500 km (5,846 km GQ and some high-density corridors) have been taken up in the phase. It was approved by the government in 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs41,210 crore.

The government, meanwhile, has made some progress on the expansion of the GQ. Six-laning of 490 km has already been completed and 1,922 km is under implementation. Length spanning 4,088 km has yet to be awarded. Interestingly, even four-laning of the GQ is not yet over as work is still going on on the 25 km stretch in Orissa.

The transport ministry and the Planning Commission were seen locking horns on a number of occasions during ex-transport minister Kamal Nath’s period. The commission was critical of the ministry’s 20 km a day target, and contended that highways being built at exorbitant costs will trigger sub-prime concerns.