Calcutta, Jan. 7: The Mamata Banerjee government has decided to keep a 40-km stretch out of a road project for the time being because the administration needs to acquire 387 acres for its widening, an issue sources said the state was wary of before the Assembly polls.

The Ghatal-Arambagh bypass stretch is part of the 231km north-south corridor for which the Asian Development Bank has decided to provide Rs 3,094 crore. The stretch falls in the middle of the 106.8km road between Mechogram in East Midnapore and Burdwan town that was supposed to have been developed in the first phase. (see map)

The detailed project report issued recently shows that while the two ends of the 106km road will be developed in the first phase, the Ghatal-Arambagh stretch in the middle will be left out. It had been initially decided to widen the entire road in phase I.

Sources said the government was supposed to complete the first phase by 2018 and the entire corridor project by 2022.

The corridor project is being considered one of the biggest the Bengal government has undertaken in the past five years. The connectivity - between NH6 and NH34 - is likely to boost the agrarian economy of central Bengal with the possibility of agro-based industries being developed.

It would also help vehicles coming from the Northeast and headed for Paradwip and Haldia cut the distance by 40km and ease traffic snarls in small towns like Barasat and Madhyamgram. The first phase involved developing three stretches - Mechogram to Ghatal in West Midnapore, Ghatal to Arambagh bypass in Hooghly and from Arambagh bypass to Burdwan town.

Nabanna officials said the decision to put off the development of the Ghatal-Arambagh stretch highlighted the government's "inflexible" hands-off land policy.

Most officials described land acquisition as a major barrier in inviting private players, at a time the state government is desperately looking for private partners to develop 3,000km of highways under the PPP model. The government had in September last year made a presentation in Delhi before investors from Malaysia.

Sources said the search for private partners to develop state highways would be one of the government's focus areas at the two-day investors' summit on January 8 and 9.

The officials hinted that development of the 40km stretch would be taken up in the second phase, months after the Assembly polls. They suggested that the administration was wary of acquiring any land before the elections, lest it created trouble over compensation and alienated prospective voters.

A Calcutta-based infrastructure analyst said the government's decision would send a negative message to investors.

"If the state government is not sure about arranging land for its own project, private players will never feel comfortable in considering investing here. The state government has made it clear it would not acquire land for private investors," the analyst said.

ADB will shoulder 70 per cent of the Rs 4,420-crore north-south corridor project. The remaining Rs 1,326 crore will be spent by the state government, officials said.

"In the first phase, the state government has now decided to take up the stretches between Mechogram and Ghatal (28.78km) along with the one between Arambagh bypass and Burdwan (37.80km). But the Ghatal-Arambagh bypass (40.26km) has been kept out. The detailed project report will soon be sent to ADB for funds," said a senior government official.

Officials said the government had "strategically" avoided the Ghatal-Arambagh stretch as it required the maximum land for widening.

According to the detailed project report, the Mechogram-Ghatal stretch, which would be converted into four lanes with a paved shoulder road (17 metres), would not require any land as the Left government had acquired extra land while laying the road 30 years ago.

Similarly, for the Arambagh bypass-Burdwan stretch that would be converted into a 17-metre wide road, the government would require only 73 acres.

"But the story is different for the Ghatal-Arambagh bypass stretch. It is a narrow road (five-metre wide) and no additional land had been acquired there," said a PWD engineer.

The Ghatal-Arambagh road is supposed to be widened into two lanes with a 10-metre paved shoulder road. Officials said that of the 887.14 acres required for the 231km north-south corridor, 387 acres would have to be acquired for the Ghatal-Arambagh stretch alone.

"The first phase of the project earlier involved connecting NH2 in Burdwan with NH6 in Mechogram. But that won't work because you cannot have a link with the two ends widened and a narrow stretch in the middle," a Nabanna official said.

The official argued that it had been decided initially to cover the entire 106-km road in the first phase because any funding agency - in this case ADB - wants to ensure that the investment is recovered as soon as a phase is complete.

"The state government could have imposed toll tax on the road soon after it was completed. But it is not possible now as the Ghatal-Arambagh stretch is being left out for the time being.... This can make the funding agency jittery," the official added.