Vijayapura: It is not often that infrastructure development projects get their names recorded in the Limca Book of Records. Contrary to this, a particular stretch of road being developed by the National Highway Authority of India is getting this opportunity.
A stretch of 25 kilometres long lane being developed between Bijapur and Solapur by NHAI is getting ready to make it to the Limca Book of Records for having asphalted in the record time of eighteen hours.
In the presence of officials of Limca Book of Records – the NHAI took-up the asphalting work in five different stretches between Vijayapura-Solapur national highway on Thursday. Among five stretches three are in Karnataka – Dhulked, Horati Tanda and Tidagundi and the remaining two are in Maharashtra.
On seeking the condition of anonymity, an official from NHAI said that, Initially, they had planned to blacktop 20-lane-km in 12 hours but it was later extended for another 5.5-lane-km, which took another six hours to complete. In total 25.54 km road, asphalting work has been carried out in 18 hours. It is not done end-to-end but they have done it in five different places at the same time.
“This is the quickest asphalting work done so far in the nation. We have done all the work in the presence of officials of Limca Book of Records. They have documented and verified every aspect required to get a place in the record book. The highway development work is being carried out by IGM company,” added an official from NHAI.
The news broke out when Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari applauded the efforts of the workers, who sweated out to reach the goal on time, of NHAI.
In a tweet, he said, “The NHAI and contract company have successfully blacktopped 25.54-lane-km within 18 hours, which is a remarkable achievement, in the ongoing widening of the Bijapur-Solapur NH-218. This quick work will be added to the Limca Book of Records. As many as 500 workers of the contract company have sweated-out to achieve this feat. I will congratulate workers and the project director of NHAI, other officials, representatives of the company,” appreciated Gadkari.
He also assured me of completing the ongoing highway works between Bijapur-Solapur by October 2021. The Department of Road Transport and National Highways launched the up-gradation of NH-218 between Bijapur-Solapur to four-lane from the existing two-lane in 2018. This 110-km road stretch is being developed at a project cost of Rs 1,0576 crores.
Praising the works of NHAI, Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol, said that, “This fete will set up a benchmark in the ongoing and upcoming projects. I congratulate the entire team on completing the 25.54-km lane asphalting in 18 hours. The work was launched when Ramesh Jigajinagi was the union minister of states,” stated Karjol, who is a PWD Minister.
The works were carried out by the NHAI, Project Director Sanjay Kadam, IGM director Venkatesh Rao and IGM team leader Siddanagouda K.
