NHAI revises deadlines for four-laning of two stretches
Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, January 8
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has revised its deadline for completing four-laning work on two treacherous stretches — 43-km-long Udhampur-Ramban section and 36-km-long Ramban-Banihal section — on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.
On the Udhampur-Ramban section, we have been able to complete 60 per cent work so far, while only 19 per cent work has been executed on the Ramban-Banihal stretch. The acquisition of land for these projects has remained a major issue for the executing agencies. — A senior NHAI officer
Officials of the NHAI disclosed that the widening work on the Udhampur-Ramban section, which was targeted to be completed by December 2019, was now expected to be completed by December 2020, while it would take another two years to complete four-laning of the Ramban-Banihal section and the NHAI had fixed December 2021 as a fresh deadline fr the project.
“On the Udhampur-Ramban section, we have been able to complete 60 per cent work so far, while only 19 per cent work has been executed on the Ramban-Banihal stretch. The acquisition of land for these projects has remained a major issue for the executing agencies,” a senior NHAI officer told The Tribune.
The Udhampur-Ramban section is being executed by Gammon India, one of the largest physical infrastructure construction companies in the country, with an estimated cost of Rs 1,710 crore, while the project cost of the Ramban-Banihal stretch is Rs 2,168.66 crore.
The four-laning project has been divided into six sub-projects, comprising widening of the Jammu-Udhampur road (65 km), Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), widening of Ramban-Udhampur road (43 km), Banihal-Ramban road (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal road (67.7 km).
The highway widening work was started in 2011 and it was targeted to be completed within five years from its commencement. The four-laning of the highway would reduce the distance between two Jammu and Srinagar cities by 50 km. The 9-10 hours present travel would be reduced to just five hours, that too, avoiding treacherous points on the highway.
The Qazigund-Banihal tunnel on the highway has already missed several deadlines in the last eight years due to sluggish pace of work.
