Siliguri, Sept. 5: Fasten your seat belts to hit the highway for a smooth sail to Siliguri. For that is something the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is planning to ensure for north Bengal.

The government body, which is building highways across the country, is now looking to upgrade the existing highways touching Siliguri into eight-lane expressways.

This will be part of the ambitious national project, which envisages highways linking the east to the west and north to the south, costing an estimated Rs 30,000 crore. “We have introduced an annuity with a difference. This venture includes the project cost and the cost of maintenance of the highways for 15 years. The party that wins the tender for the work will finance a part of the project and will receive money only after the clauses in the agreement are fulfilled,” said S.S. Bakshi, chief project director, (NHAI).

“We have laid more stress on safety of the commuters. We are making a separate lane for low-speed vehicles like bicycles at points where traffic flow is high. We are also building overbridges across railway crossings. The plan also includes building roadside shops, hotels and public toilets along the highway for passengers and drivers. They can stop at these junctions, take rest and start on the stretch again,” said Bakshi.

The NHAI is also toying with the idea of introducing police patrols and security units for safety along the highway, he said, adding: “For this, we need help from the state government as it will be the state police that will have to bear the responsibility for this.”

Work has already started on the Guwahati-Siliguri highway, which will be a part of the “east-west” superhighway that will link Silchar in Assam with Porbandar in Gujarat.

“Since the retention capacity of soil is low in West Bengal, we are using sand for filling. This will prevent recurring damages of the roads every monsoon and improve connectivity in the area,” said the project chief.