Ranchi: Capital residents can expect traffic snarls to ease following the four-laning of NH-23 between Ranchi and Bero connecting Gumla with Lohardaga.

According to Sanjay Mahto, a resident of Bero, work on the 23km stretch started in January and is going on in full swing. "Once the four-laning work is complete, it will hardly take half an hour to reach Bero from Ranchi. Earlier, due to traffic congestion vehicles would be stuck for hours," said Mahto.

Project director of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Ajay Kumar Sinha, said work on the stretch would be complete by mid-June.

"Work is underway on the entire stretch, which has been divided in several sections for convenience of commuters. Concrete work on the stretch has also started," said Sinha, adding the project involved a sum of around Rs 150 crore.

On the other hand, four-laning work on the 163.5km Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch of NH-33, has hardly made any headway, though the work started in December 2012 and till now barely 50km of the stretch has been covered.

When asked project director Sinha about the reason behind the delay in the four-laning work on Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch, he cited financial reasons.

"Work on the Ranchi-Bero stretch is being carried out on EPC (engineer procure contract) basis and NHAI is supplying money to the construction agency Ram Kripal Construction on interval basis. On the other hand, construction of the Ranchi-Jamshedpur stretch is being carried out on BOT (build operate and transfer) mode during which amount is paid to the construction agency Madhucon Projects only after the work gets complete. As the construction agency is going through a financial crisis, so automatically the work is pending. The project involves a sum of Rs 1,479 crore," Sinha said.NH-23 starts at Chas (Jharkhand) and end at Nauhata (Bihar). NH-33 runs from Farakka (West Bengal) to Arwal (Bihar).