New Delhi [India], April 3 (ANI): The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed a concession agreement with Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd for the development of the 121 km long Guwahati Ring Road.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement on Wednesday that the ring road in Guwahati will be developed at a total cost of Rs 5,729 crore on Build Operate Toll (BOT) Mode with zero grant.

The concession period of the contract is 30 years, including a construction period of four years.

The Assam government will bear 50 percent of the land cost, provide exemption from royalty on aggregates, and contribute about Rs 1,270 crore to the state portion of GST. Thus, the gross project cost is about Rs 7,000 crore.

The ambitious Guwahati Ring Road project will have three sections: a 56 km long 4-lane Access-Controlled Northern Guwahati Bypass, a widening of the existing 8 km bypass on NH 27 from four lanes to six lanes, and an improvement of the existing 58 km long bypass on NH 27.

Notably, a 3 km-long major bridge over the Brahmaputra will also be constructed as part of the project.

The Guwahati Ring Road will provide seamless connectivity to long-distance traffic plying on the east-west corridor of NH-27, which is the gateway to the North-East Region of the country.

The development of the ring road will help to decongest Guwahati City and neighboring North-Eastern states by bypassing major traffic coming from West Bengal and Bihar to Silchar, Nagaland and Tripura.

The project will also provide seamless connectivity to major towns in the region, including Siliguri, Silchar, Shillong, Jorhat, Tezpur, Jogigopha, and Barpeta.

The central government has been encouraging Public Private Partnership for Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects.

As a part of the Government of India's 'Vision 2047', a large number of high-speed corridors are envisaged to be developed. Robust public-private partnerships in the development of the road sector will play a pivotal role in realizing this vision and will greatly contribute towards the development and operations of the world-class National Highway Network in the country. (ANI)