Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has been asked to work out plans for development of the acquired property along the route of the proposed ring road as the urban development ministry decides to hand over the work of road construction to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

The project is not expected to start soon as economic specifications are yet to be planned and the NHAI has not officially quoted any price for the project. JDA is informed to have acquired land for the entire south region of the project but the proposed path near Ajmer Road-Tonk Road-Agra Road link is expected to undergo alteration and the length of previously proposed 145-km ring road will be shortened by almost 40 km.

“As for now a letter of intent has been sent to NHAI and the process of land acquisition is on. Now JDA will own the remaining land and will be responsible for development of land to be provided in compensation,” said Shanti Dhariwal, minister for urban development.

As the state government decides to take the project, options for public-private partnership have been completely ruled out. The project, initially intended to be developed on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, has bogged down for various reasons. The project was later decided to be developed on the lines of ‘Swiss Challenge/Suo Motu System’ envisaging a three-way partnership between JDA, land owners and the developer company.

The builders were to get an estimated 9,000 acres along the 145 km stretch as remuneration for construction of the road and developing the land to be allotted as compensation to the farmers. Conceived at a time when real estate prices were accelerating, the project gained a lot of attention from the market.

The bids for ring road were invited by JDA in 2005 and Reliance Energy (later renamed Reliance Infrastructure) emerged as sole bidder and submitted a draft project report with project cost, then estimated at, Rs 6,470 crore envisioning a 145 km long road along the city’s periphery.

However, later in October 2008 the company opted out as JDA and demanded a reverse payment of Rs 2,700 crore. Infrastructure companies lost interest in the project due to stagnation in real estate sector. Now JDA will bear the project’s cost and the land earlier ensured to the developer company will be handed over to JDA.

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