IJM India Infrastructure Ltd. Sets a Record of Laying 25.54-km lane in 17:45 hours
After creating a world record for laying Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC) for a four-lane highway of 2,580 meters length within 24 hours, NHAI has made yet another record by completing a single lane of the four-lane stretch of 25.54km (NH 13) in a record time of 17:45 hours. It is being developed between Bijapur-Solapur by Hyderabad-based construction company IJM India.
Informed Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways - Nitin Gadkari - who tweeted: “NHAI has completed a single-lane construction work under the four-laning of the Solapur-Bijapur highway in a record time of 18 hours; this will be registered in the ‘Limca Book of Records.’” He applauded the 500 contractual labourers for the achievement and congratulated the NHAI project manager, officers, and representatives of IJM India.
The Solapur-Bijapur highway, which is part of the high-density traffic corridor Bengaluru-Chitradurga-Bijapur-Solapur-Aurangabad-Dhule-lndore-Gwalior, was formerly known as the National Highway that connected Maharashtra and Karnataka. The bypass four- lane road will also have six flyovers. Currently, 110 kms of the Solapur-Bijapur highway work is in progress and will be completed by October 2021.
An NHAI official informed that 25.54km of asphalting work has been carried in five different places, at the same time. Initially, it was planned to take-up only the blacktop work for a 20 km stretch of single lane in 12 hours but was later extended to another 5.5 km on the same lane, which took another six hours to complete. Among the five stretches, three are in Karnataka - Dhulked, Horatti Tanda, and Tidagundi, and two are in Maharashtra. The work was carried out by NHAI Project Director Sanjay Kadam, and the IJM team leader M. Venkateswar Rao.
Sanjay Kadam, Project Director at NHAI, commended the meticulous planning and painstaking efforts of IJMII and in being the first construction company to have attempted such a feat. He said, “This is the first time in the history of NHAI projects that such a mammoth task has been attempted and achieved successfully. The 110 kms of four / six laning of the Solapur- Bijapur section on NH13 is one of the largest contracts in value (about ₹2300 cr) awarded by NHAI on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer (DBFOT) basis. We are glad to set another milestone in this project by achieving the record time of laying 25.54 kms of lane with bituminous concrete within a span of 18 hours, as compared to the current average progress rate of 05 km per month for a four-lane highway project.”
M. Venkateswar Rao, Team Leader IJMII, said that never has such an event been witnessed in the Indian infrastructure industry on a National Highway Project by any construction company in India. “The task involved huge logistical and technical challenges in covering an approximate linear distance of 18,701 km in less than 18 hours, which is equivalent to 5 one-way trips from Ladakh to Kanyakumari (3810 km one way via NH 44).”
He informed that around 14,832 tons of Bituminous Concrete mix was produced by Hot Mix Plants for laying. Heavy load carrying vehicles with capacity up to 30 tons were deployed to transport the concrete mix from the Hot Mix Plants to the highway stretches, undergoing about 494 trips. “To cover the above distance within 19 hours, we have used 90 Dumpers, 6 sensor pavers of 9.5 meters, and numerous vehicles used in highway construction. We also ensured that no disruption was caused to vehicles plying on the road and all safety measures were ensured on the project,” said Rao.
