Ranchi, Aug. 7: Unable to expedite work on the ambitious ring road project, a proposed six-lane thoroughfare in the city, the state government has now decided to go ahead with the plan under a Public Private Partnership (PPP).

According to estimates made in 2004, the 85-km ring road would cost over Rs 700 crore to the state exchequer. It has been divided into eight phases for convenience.

The government had initiated work in Phase VII, the longest stretch of the ring road, intersecting the Tilta village (in Ranchi-Lohardaga NH-75) and Vikas (in Ranchi-Hazaribagh Road, NH-33) — a proposed 23-km thoroughfare. But the June 2010 deadline set for the completion of this part of the project is difficult to meet due to land acquisition problems.

Sources said in past one-and-a-half years after the foundation stone was laid by chief minister Madhu Koda for seventh phase, only around Rs 23 crore was spent on construction work.

“We have to depend on externally-aids now. IL&FS, a consultant, would act as the process manager and invite bids on PPP basis for all the phases,” said N.N. Singh, the deputy secretary in the state road construction department.

Recently, it was decided to hand over about 1,800-km of the project to IL&FS. The construction majors employed by IL&FS for the task would be paid from the initially invested amount on annuity basis.

Work on seventh phase of the ring road project is being executed through a joint venture between Somdutt Builders and Shrinet and Shandilya Construction Private Limited. The project would cost over Rs 200 crore, which also includes expenses of land acquisition and related activities.

Prashant Dev, an executive engineer at the road construction department, who is involved with the ring road project told The Telegraph that ground work is taking a long time due to land acquisition problems.

One has to cross Ranchi in order to reach Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Gumla, Lohardaga and Khunti and this adds to the traffic problems in the city.