NEW DELHI: Facing criticism for inordinate delay in completion of the Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar and Haridwar-Dehradun stretches of NH-58 , the NHAI has served termination notice to the contractor for first corridor and has cancelled the contract for Dehradu n stretch.

Work for both projects were awarded in 2010 and was to be completed in three years. "We have invited bids for completing the remaining work on the 36-km stretch of Haridwar-Dehradun corridor. It will be taken up with 100% government funding and will require about Rs 520 crore," said a senior NHAI official.

He added the highway authority would award the work soon and since it would be government funded, there would be no delay. The earlier contractor, Era Infrastructure, faced huge financial problems, which impacted completion of the project .

The contractor had also bagged the project to widen the Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar stretch, which included construction of by-passes. Till now, the progress is about 73%. "The contractor is yet to build the Roorkee bypass. We have served a notice asking why the contract should not be terminated. It has got enough time to put things in order ," said an official. Though both projects were rolled out under build-operate-transfer model, commuters are not charged any toll since work has not been completed.

Sources said the combined cost of the two projects covering about 120 km was Rs 1,250 crore, but because of the delay the cost shot up.

