Government’s tall claims on development notwithstanding, two main road widening projects in the Downtown here namely Khanyar-Zadibal-Pandach and Syed Meerak Shah-Zakura have seen little progress.
The Khanyar-Zadibal-Pandach which is known as KZP is a 12.5Km road stretch passing through the heart of Downtown.
The project is part of44-year-old Circular Road project. It began in 1976 and was aimed atconstructing a four-lane ring road around the summer capital.
“There is unprecedented increase in the cost of this projectas more than 300 structures and 500 shops are to be dismantled to pave way forwidening of this road stretch which at current price would require more than Rs1000 crore for land acquisition,” said a senior R&B official.
He said the delay of over four decades in widening the roadstretch has made this project “white elephant” which the government is failingto fund.
“The skyrocketing pricesof real estates in Srinagar has compounded the land acquisition, particularlyin the Downtown” he said.
The important road link, which could drastically reducetraffic congestion in the Downtown has become casualty of “ill planning andcallous approach” of various regimes.
The KZP road which passes through the historic Jamia Masjid,reaches SKIMS Soura and ends at Pandach on city outskirts. It is one of themega road projects in the summer capital apart from Syed Meerak Shah Road(SMS)—a 10.30 km stretch from Dalgate to Zakoora via Rainawari and Hazratbal.
In 2009 authoritiesstarted expansion of the Syed Meerak Shah Road from Dalgate to Zakura primarilyfor facilitating smooth flow of vehicular movement through congested areas ofhistoric Downtown here.
The 10.33 kilometre road widening project estimated at Rs336.24 crore was aimed to serve as key surface link to the Downtown, theHazratbal shrine and the University of Kashmir. However, despite passing ofeleven years, the project is going on at a snail’s pace with even its first phaseyet to be completed.
Officials cite paucity of funds and escalating real estateprices for land and structure acquisition for delay in undertaking the project.
Chief Engineer, R&B Sami Arif said the main reason fordelay was the land acquisition cost.
However, the officials stated that now under Smart CityProject, the government may provide funds for land acquisition at certaincrucial junctures.
Earlier, when thegovernment had announced that it would incorporate Jammu and KashmirInfrastructure Development Corporation to fund languishing projects, some hopehad generated that these projects may be completed. “But the government decided that it wouldtake up only those project under languishing scheme which won’t need any fundsfor the land acquisition,” said a senior public works department official.