Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will dedicate the new six-lane Tarapur-Vasad stretch of State Highway – 8 (SH-8) in the presence of Roads and Buildings Minister Purnesh Modi at 3:00 pm on October 7, Thursday.

The 48-km road project, which will significantly reduce the travel time between Tarapur and Vasad, has been completed by Gujarat-based RKC Infrabuilt Pvt. Ltd. at a cost of approx. Rs. 1,005 Crore. The company had won the project from Gujarat State Road Development Corporation (GSRDC) under the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain-Transfer (DBFOMT) annuity concession model.

With the completion of the road, the travel time between Tarapur and Vasad, the shortest road route between South Gujarat and Saurashtra, will take just 35 minutes now from 120 minutes until now. The 48-km stretch has 18 flyovers and 38 km service roads. It includes 24 underpasses, approx. 1.30 lakhs sq mtr of reinforced earth wall, approx. 1200 street lights, the first for a state highway in Gujarat, and also comprises 38 bus stops in addition to four truck lay-bys.

A 12-lane toll plaza, equipped with modern technology and other amenities such as ambulance, patrolling vehicle, crane, traffic, medical aid posts, drinking water facility, and toilets, has been set up at Bochasan.

The Tarapur-Vasad road is also the first state highway in Gujarat where the latest technologies have been deployed for jointless paving over the entire road width of 13 metres using cement-treated base, polymer modified bitumen, etc.

Moreover, for the first time in a state highway in Gujarat, an approx. 2.85 km continuous elevated fly over has been built using a reinforced earth wall.

It is the first six-lane state highway in Gujarat that is equipped with an extensive surveillance system using PTZ cameras, video-based incident recognition system, speed measurement, and variable messaging systems, and sets other safety benchmarks.

Environmental conversation was given top priority during road construction. A significant quantity of existing pavements was recycled and reused.

“We have completed six-laning of the 48-km road stretch from Tarapur to Vasad in record time despite the nationwide lockdown and several restrictions in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are thankful to the state government, the Roads & Buildings Department, local leaders, and other authorities for their support in helping us execute the project in a timely manner,” said Kamlesh Shah, Chairman of RKC Infrabuilt, a three-decades-old company specializing in executing complex infrastructural projects.

The company has previously executed three BOT-annuity projects, completing all of them before the due date. Just adjacent to Tarapur-Vasad Highway, the Company said it had also constructed Tarapur to Khambhat Highway in 2013 which has no pot hole / no substantial defect since last 8 years. This project was earlier awarded to some other Concessionaire in 2012 but the project could not be completed and was hung since last 9 years which in re-tender was awarded to RKC.