New highway in India for Jharkhand and West Bengal

A US$307 million highway is being built in the state of Jharkhand and West Bengal. This follows an agreement between local firm IL&FS Transportation (IL&FS) and the 292 National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The deal takes the form of a concession package and will be for a 20 year period. The highway is to be constructed in around 30 months and IL&FS will then operate the route on a tolled basis once it is open to traffic. The project forms part of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) phase V.  The package was awarded as a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) project. In addition, IL&FS won a further package of works from the NHAI to widen the Barwa-Adda-Panagarh section of NH2. This deal will see IL&FS widening the stretch of the Barwa-Adda Expressway to six lanes.