In the past three years, mere 15 percent work has been completed on four-laning of the Banihal-Ramban stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, even as the deadline for the project is ending this year.
The work on four-laning of Udhampur-Banihal stretch of the highway started in 2015 and was inaugurated by Prime Minister NarendraModi.
According to an official source, about 50 percent work has been completed on the Udhampur-Ramban stretch, while this figure is mere 15 percent for the Banihal-Ramban stretch.
Initially, no company was ready to take up the work on the Udhampur-Ramban sector because of the “difficult terrain”. However, after sometime, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) increased the contract rates and the project was taken over by Gammon India, one of the largest physical infrastructure construction companies in the country.
The company, according to the contract, was supposed to widen and excavate 43-km stretch, while the remaining 36-km was handed over to the Hindustan Construction Company.
These companies, however, handed over the construction to sub-companies, which were allegedly not successful in completing the project in time.
On the other hand, the construction of Banihal-Qazigund four-laning is stalled because of financial crunch, and the Nauyuga construction company, its executing agency, and the NHAI are acting as mute spectators to this failure, sources say.
The Nauyuga was tasked with completing a two-tube tunnel on the Banihal-Qazigund stretch, but for the past eight months, the construction on the tunnel has been stalled due to alleged financial constraints within the company.
The work on both Banihal-Ramban and Srinagar-Qazigund sections has been delayed beyond a point, the sources say.
Moreover, the NHAI has revised many deadlines on the 66-km-long Srinagar-Banihal stretch, which has witnessed only 69.38 percent work in the past more than six years.
The work on the stretch was started in 2011 and its initial deadline was 2014. However, the project which was allotted to Hyderabad-based construction company Ramky Infrastructure by the NHAI has missed four deadlines so far and the recent deadline was June 2016.
A senior HCC official Naseer Ahmad Masoodi told Greater Kashmir that 36-km Ramban-Banihal stretch is being constructed at a cost of Rs 1783 crore. He said six tunnels are being constructed between Ramban and Banihal.
“The plan to construct more tunnels is under consideration,” he said, adding that they are waiting for “necessary nod” to it.
Masoodi said difficult terrain, erratic weather and plying of 8,000 vehicles on Srinagar-Jammu highway daily are biggest challenges for them.
“The slow pace of work is because we want traffic to ply hassle-free,” he said.