WHAT IS GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL HIGHWAY PROJECT ?

The Golden Quadrilateral is the name given to an enormous highway project in India. It is basically a network of highways connecting India's four top metropolitan cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, thereby, forming a quadrilateral. The Former Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid the foundation stone for the project on January 6, 1999. It is Largest Project in India and 5^th Longest Highway in the World.

GQ is the first phase of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP).The National Highway Development Project is a Project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highway in India to a Higher Standard. National Highways account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country.

Golden Quadrilateral will provide vast opportunities for transport of agricultural produce from the hinterland to major cities and ports for export. It provides an impulse to smoother movement of products and people with in India. Golden Quadrilateral helps to reduce the traffic flow. It will give an impetus to truck transport throughout India. It enables industrial and job development in smaller towns through access to markets.

It will provide job opportunities in its construction as well as demand for cement, steel and other construction materials. The construction required for the highway offers employment opportunities, and in fact the sector increased by 12.6 percent in the year ending March 2008. Manufacturing jobs are also created by the expanded highway system.

In January 2012, India announced the four lane GQ highway network as complete. Indian government had initially estimated that the Golden Quadrilateral project would cost 60,000 crore at 1999 prices. However, the highway has been built under-budget, as of August 2011. In September 2009, it was announced that the existing four-lane highways would be converted into six-lane highways.

The expansion project was reported at various stages to be behind schedule, mainly due to land acquisition constraints and disputes with contractors which had to be re-negotiated. The GQ project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has been one of the major contributors to the infrastructural development activity in the GQ project.

Total Length of Golden Quadrilateral is 5846km (3633miles).It connect 13 states of India as follows Andhra Pradesh – 1,014 km (630 mi) Uttar Pradesh – 756 km (470 mi) Rajasthan – 725 km (450 mi) Karnataka – 623 km (387 mi) Maharashtra – 487 km (303 mi) Gujarat – 485 km (301 mi) Orissa – 440 km (270 mi) West Bengal – 406 km (252 mi) Tamil Nadu – 342 km (213 mi) Bihar – 204 km (127 mi) Jharkhand – 192 km (119 mi) Haryana – 152 km (94 mi) Delhi – 25 km (16 mi) Total – 5,846 km (3,633 mi).

Widening the highway destroys restaurants, shops, and other business, along with farmland. Generations of family farmers have lived on some of the land in the path of the GQ, and sometimes they don’t want to leave, leading to government confiscation and intimidation. Even with compensation, farming is all many farmers know how to do. Without their land, they have nothing left. Land Disputes was a major problem in Golden Quadrilateral project.

ROUTE INFORMATION

·        Delhi-Kolkata       : 1,453km

·        Kolkata-Chennai  : 1,684km

·        Chennai-Mumbai     : 1,290 km

·        Mumbai-Delhi      : 1,419km

National Highways Development Project targeted  4-laning of 10,000 km (6,200 mi) (NHDP Phase- III) including 4,000 km (2,500 mi) that has been already approved. An  accelerated road development programme for the North Eastern region. 2-laning with paved shoulders of 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of National Highways under NHDP Phase-IV. 6-laning  of GQ and some other selected stretches covering 6,500 km (4,000 mi) under NHDP Phase-V.  Development of 1,000 km (620 mi) of express ways under NHDP Phase-VI.  Development of ring roads, bypasses, grade separators, service roads, etc. under NHDP Phase-VII.

In August 2003, Jharkhand-based project director Satyendra Dubey, in a letter to the Prime Minister, outlined a list of mafia actions in a segment of this highway in Bihar. Dubye's claims included that big contractors had inside information from NHAI officials that the contractors for this stretch were not executing the project themselves (as stipulated in the contract) but subcontracting the work small builders who lacked technical expertise and that no follow-up was performed after awarding advances. Dubey's name was leaked by the PMO to the NHAI and he was transferred against his wishes to Gaya, Bihar, where he was murdered on November 27.

PHASES The project is composed of the following phases: Phase I: The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. This project connecting four metro cities, would be 5,846 km. Total cost of the project is Rs300 billion (US$6.8 billion). Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country. The North-South and East-West Corridor (NS-EW; 7,300 km) connecting Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, including spur from Salem to Kochi (Via Coimbatore), and Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west. Total length of the network is 7,300 km. As of January 2009, 42% of the project had been completed and 44% of the project work is currently at progress.It also includes Port connectivity and other projects — 1,157 km. The final completion date to February 28, 2009 at a cost of Rs350 billion (US$8 billion), with funding similar to Phase I.

Phase III: The government recently approved NHDP-III to upgrade 12,109 km of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, which takes into account high-density traffic, connectivity of state capitals via NHDP Phase I and II, and connectivity to centres of economic importance. contracts have been awarded for a 2,075 km. Phase IV: The government is considering widening 20,000 km of highway that were not part of Phase I, II, or III. Phase IV will convert existing single lane highways into two lanes with paved shoulders. The plan will soon be presented to the government for approval. Phase V: As road traffic increases over time, a number of four lane highways will need to be upgraded/expanded to six lanes. The current plan calls for upgrade of about 5,000 km of four-lane roads, although the government has not yet identified the stretches.

Phase VI: The government is working on constructing expressways that would connect major commercial and industrial townships. It has already identified 400 km of Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Mumbai section that would connect to the existing Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Ahmedabad section. The World Bank is studying this project. The project will be funded on BOT basis. The 334 km Expressway between Chennai—Bangalore and 277 km Expressway between Kolkata—Dhanbad has been identified and feasibility study and DPR contract has been awarded by NHAI. Phase VII: This phase calls for improvements to city road networks by adding ring roads to enable easier connectivity with national highways to important cities. In addition, improvements will be made to stretches of national highways that require additional flyovers and bypasses given population and housing growth along the highways and increasing traffic. The government has not yet identified a firm investment plan for this phase. The 19-km long Chennai Port—Maduravoyal Elevated Expressway is being executed under this phase.

Future Plan is six Laning of Golden Quadrilateral .