Goa-Kundapur coastal highway project to be completed by Dec

The four-laning of the coastal highway in Karnataka from the Goa border to Kundapur is nearing completion with over 92% progress of works. The 187 km-long section of National Highway (NH) 66 (previously NH 17) is already open to traffic, and the whole project is expected to be complete by December 2022. In March 2013, the NHAI and IWTPL (IRB West-coast Tollway), an SPV of IRB Infrastructure Developers, entered into a concession agreement to develop, operate and maintain the Goa/Karnataka Border to Kundapur Section of NH 17 (now NH 66) Project. The concession period of the project is 28 years from the appointed date. The concessionaire is allowed to collect the notified user fee from the road users during this period. Further, IWTPL was entrusted to expand a 187 km section between Goa/ Karnataka Border and Kundapur in Karnataka from two to four lanes on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate, and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. This highway section of Karnataka includes 14 major bridges, 39 minor bridges, three rail over bridges, four flyovers and a 61-km service road. Out of 187 km, the 173 km stretch is complete. NH 66 is a major highway along the western coast of India. It extends from Panvel near Mumbai to Kanyakumari, passing through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu state for 1,608 km. It connects major cities and towns along the way, including Panvel, Chiplun, Ratnagiri, Panaji, Margao, Karwar, Udupi, Surathkal, Mangalore, Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kanyakumari.