New Delhi, Feb 25: The Centre Thursday approved implementation of projects for four-laning of the mountainous Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only road link to the Kashmir Valley which is extremely vulnerable to inclement weather.
With this, the Kashmir Valley will get all-weather connectivity. Besides, the journey time from Jammu to Srinagar and strategic border areas in the state will be reduced.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. The project cost is estimated at Rs 9,377.46 crore. ‘The concession period is for 20 years, including a construction period of three to five years,’ an official statement said.
“The major impact of the project lies in reducing the time and cost of travel of the traffic running between Srinagar to Banihal, Qazigund to Banihal, Ramban to Banihal, Udhampur to Ramban, Chenani to Nashri and Jammu to Udhampur sections,” the statement added.
GKNN adds from Jammu: As part of National Highway Development Board project, a four-lane Lakhanpour-Kunjwani section in North South Corridor road expansion at a cost of Rs four crore would be ready by June this year.
This information was given to the Minister for R&B, G.M.Saroori while reviewing the progress on the project.
He was informed that 33.65 km Lakhanpur-Hiranagar  section, costing Rs 158.07 crore and 30 km Hiranagar-Vijaypur section, coming up at a cost of Rs 151.36 crore would be completed by June 2010,  while 17.2 km Vijaypur-Kunjwani section would be ready  by March this year. In total Rs four crore were being spent on this section, he was told.
It was given out that work on 15 km Jammu bypass project, costing Rs. 74.87 crore and 17.8 km Srinagar bypass, coming up at a cost of Rs.60.66 crore, would be ready by June and March this year respectively.  The meeting was informed that work on 4 bridges and one flyover at Hyderpora being constructed at bypass road at Srinagar would be completed by December 2010.
Saroori was informed that under the project, Rs 9629 crore have been earmarked for  272 km Jammu-Srinagar Highway. 2 long and 12 short tunnels besides 34 bridges and 24 viaducts would be a part of the project, he was informed.
Regarding the land acquisition, required for the project, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has deposited Rs 277.92 crore with the Deputy Commissioners of Kauthua, Samba, Jammu, Udhampur, Ramban, Islamabad, Budgam, Pulwama and Srinagar districts for payment to the land owners.  
Saroori asked the officers of R&B and NHAI to work with close coordination and ensure that work on all the six sections of the project is completed within fixed time. While discussing on the delay in acquiring land in Islamabad district, he said that necessary instructions have been issued to the Deputy Commissioner, Islamabad to speed up the process. 
He said on completion of the project, the travel distance from Jammu-Srinagar would be reduced by 50 km.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST