RailEnquiry

Ranchi : The state administration will approach the railways once again to allow work on a 3km stretch of land along the Ranchi-Ramgarh-Patratu road that is being widened to four lanes.This was decided today at meeting of Jharkhand Accelerated Road Development Company Limited (JARDCL) chaired by chief secretary R.S. Sharma.The Ranchi-Patratu-Ramgarh road project, being executed by JARDCL, is stuck at Patratu-Ramgarh section since the last couple of years, while construction of a service road on Adityapur-Kandra road is going slow due to problems in shifting of power and water utilities along the way. “The project has been in limbo for long. We have been asked to follow up with East Central Railway (ECR) Hazipur (Bihar) headquarters with renewed vigour. We will soon get in touch with the GM of ECR in this regard,” said a senior official of JARDCL.JARDCL is executing projects worth around Rs 1,400-1,500 crore across the state. These include four phases of Ranchi Ring Road, Ranchi-Patratu-Ramgarh road, Chaibasa-Kandra-Chowka road and Adityapur-Kandra road.Most of these projects are on the verge of completion but several minor hiccups are yet to be resolved.For implementation of the ambitious Jharkhand Accelerated Road Development Programme (JARDP), the state had set up the special purpose vehicle named Jharkhand Accelerated Road Development Company Limited.It is a 26:74 joint venture between the government of Jharkhand and IL&FS.Sources said that the agency was expected to take a couple of more road revamp projects in the near future. At present, detailed project report are being prepared for stretches in Deoghar and Chas (Bokaro).Ranchi-Patratu-Ramgarh road is crucial as Patratu houses Jindal Steel & Power Limited’s (JSPL) integrated steel mill, besides a thermal power station. The area holds the potential of becoming an industrial corridor of the state.While work on Ranchi-Patratu section was completed last year, the Patratu-Ramgarh section is pending due to land related issues concerning the railways. As for the Adityapur-Kandra road, work on construction of service road has been held up due to problems in shifting utilities like drinking water pipes, electricity poles, optic fibre cables etc.