SUDHIR KUMAR
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari through a series of tweets, approved works on significant National Highways and Roads worth about 3,900 crore rupees in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh and the neighbouring State of Punjab, including the construction of Akhnoor-Poonch road on National Highway 144-A.
The new works will give a major boost to road infrastructure in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh besides the State of Punjab.
The Highways Minister has approved a budget of 441 crore rupees for rehabilitation and up-gradation work to two-lane with a paved shoulder on Akhnoor-Poonch road. The work had been approved under Project Sampark (Border Roads Organization) under Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Mode. The Union Minister has also approved construction work of a four to six-lane access-controlled Expressway from the junction with Pathankot-Gurdaspur road (National Highway-54) near Balsua to the intersection with Hiranagar road in Kathua district of Jammu near village Gurha Baildaran of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway.
The project has been approved on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) mode under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-II and this will have the cost of 3,044 crore rupees and will cover the State of Punjab and UT of J&K. In the UT of Ladakh, Mr Gadkari has approved construction work of three realignments including Drass, Kharboo, and Kargil between Pandrass-Pashkyum on Zojila-Kargil-Leh road (National Highway-I) with two-lane. The work has been approved under Project Vijayak on Engineering Procurement and Construction Mode and the work has been sanctioned at the cost of 426.14 crore rupees.
Worth to mention, the three works approved at the cost of over 3,900 crore rupees would give a significant boost to developing highways and road infrastructure networks in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh and the neighbouring State of Punjab, especially Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, which will sharply reduce travel time and distance between New Delhi and Jammu.