GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL
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The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is the largest express highway project in India launched under the rule of Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former prime minister of India. It is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 5,846 kilometresDelhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai (thus forming a quadrilateral of sorts), at a cost of Rs. 60,000 crores (US$ 12.317 billion) (at 1999 prices) (Rs 580 billion). As of May 31, 2006, 92% of the entire work has been completed, with the final completion date set as December 2006, approximately two years behind schedule, this has been mainly due to issues with the various states about giving up land for the national highway and the termination of several contracts which take 6 months to get issued again.[1] of four/six lane express highways connecting The GQ project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the first controlled-access toll road to be built in India is a part of the GQ Project though not funded by NHAI. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has been one of the major contributors to the infrastructural development activity in the GQ project.
Economic benefits
This highway will interconnect many major cities and ports. It will give an impetus to truck transport throughout India. It will help in industrial growth in all small towns along it. It will provide vast opportunities for transport of agricultural produce from the hinterland to major cities and ports for export. In addition, it will provide job opportunities in its construction as well as demand for cement, steel and other construction materials.
Controversies and charges of corruption
The project involves an enormous outlay of funds and has been the focus of several charges of corruption. In August 2003, project director Satyendra Dubey, in a letter to the Prime Minister, outlined a list of malafide actions in a segment of this highway in Bihar. Dubey claimed that the contractors for this stretch were not executing the project themselves, but had sub-contracted the work to small builders who lacked technical expertise. This would lead to substandard work, he claimed. Within months of this whistleblowing action, Dubey was brutally assassinated in Gaya, Bihar. It is not clear that any action was taken by NHAI on the most germane issues raised by Dubey.
In February 2006, a 600 meter stretch of the highway connecting Kolkata to Chennai subsided into the ground, opening up ten meter gorges near Bally, West Bengal 2. This stretch had been completed a year back by a Malaysian multinational firm, selected after global tendering.
Despite these events, the completion of many of these tasks has proven that India can execute a large highway development project, confounding critics who said that this was impossible. Travelling on these roads is comparable to the Interstate Highways in USA.
Current status
| No. | Route | National Highway No. | Length Completed (km) | Total Length (km) | Percent Completed (%) | As of (date) |
| 1. | Delhi-Kolkata | NH-2 | 1284 | 1453 | 88.37 | 31 Dec 2006 |
| 2. | Delhi-Mumbai | NH-8 | 1419 | 1419 | 100 | Nov 2005 |
| 3. | Mumbai-Chennai | NH-4 | 1237 | 1290 | 95.89 | 31 Dec 2006 |
| 4. | Kolkata-Chennai | NH-5 | 1561 | 1684 | 92.70 | 31 Dec 2006 |
Major cities
The completed Golden Quadrilateral will pass through many major cities throughout the length and breadth of India.
NH-2 (Delhi-Kolkata)
NH-8 (Delhi-Mumbai)
NH-4 (Mumbai-Chennai)
NH-5 (Kolkata-Chennai)
Future Plans
Sections of NH-2, NH-5 and NH-8 have now been prioritised for further widening to six lanes under DBFO (Design, Build, Finance, Operate) pattern and more sections would be six laned in near future.
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