Srinagar: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari Monday said that J&K’s road infrastructure would be developed at par with the US in the next three to four years and informed that 500 km of new roads had been constructed in J&K from 2014 to 2023.
Addressing a news conference here, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particular about the development of road infrastructure in J&K.
“Our government wants to develop roads and bring employment to J&K. Our aim is to develop the road infrastructure of J&K at par with the US in the next three to four years,” Gadkari said.
He said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was carrying out development works worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore in Jammu and Kashmir.
The union minister said that 1700 km of roads were being constructed in J&K at a cost of Rs 75,000 crore.
“Around 41 important tunnels with a length of 133 km are being constructed in J&K and Ladakh at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore and 18 ropeways will be constructed in J&K at a cost of Rs 5000 crore,” he said.
Gadkari said that works worth Rs 4500 crore had been approved in J&K under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) out of which works worth Rs 2264 crore had been completed.
He said that a 78-km four-lane ring road was being constructed in Srinagar at a cost of Rs 4660 crore from Galandhar to Ganderbal.
“The construction of a 42-km stretch from Ganderbal to Sumbal will be completed by February 2024 while the work on a 24-km stretch from Sumbal to Wullar Bridge will begin in June 2023. The DPR for the 12-km stretch from Wullar Bridge to Ganderbal will be completed by June 2023,” the union minister said.
He said that the construction of this ring road would prevent people traveling to Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Gurez, Kargil, and Leh from having to enter Srinagar city.
“Three corridors are being built at Rs 35,000 crore to make the Srinagar-Jammu highway smoother,” Gadkari said.
He said a four-lane road of 250 km was being built from Srinagar to Jammu via Banihal-Ramban-Udhampur at a cost of Rs 16,000 crores of which 210 km had already been converted into a four-lane road.
“A 10-km tunnel has been constructed in this section. Previously, the road from Srinagar to Jammu was 320 km. With the new DPR, it has been reduced by 70 km. The construction of this road will reduce the travel time between Srinagar and Jammu from 9-10 hours to 4-5 hours,” the union minister said.
He said that the design of the Srinagar-Jammu road had been done based on geotechnical and geospatial investigations, which would help in minimising the impact of landslides.
“NHAI will complete the construction of a 40-km, 4-lane highway with a tunnel between Ramban and Banihal by June 2024, providing relief to those travelling to Srinagar. Work on widening a 40-km stretch of road with four lanes between Ramban and Banihal, including 9.6 km of six tunnels and 6.2 km of elevated roads will be completed by August 2025,” Gadkari said.
Speaking about the Jammu-Akhnoor-Rajouri-Poonch-Uri road project, he said that the construction of the 199-km road from Jammu to Poonch via Akhnoor was underway at a cost of Rs 6000 crore.
“The work on the road from Jammu to Khati Chowk for 25 km will be completed by June 2023. The remaining 5 km work has been completed. The work on another road project of 15.8 km will be completed by October 2024,” the union minister said.
He said that the work of the 26.8 km road from Rajouri to Kalar would be completed by November 2024.
Gadkari said that the work on the 29.7 km road from Saranoo-Rajouri-Derie to Thana would be completed by December 2024 and the work on 34.4 km Kalakote road would be completed by January 2024.
“The work of the 35.4 km Kalar-Surkot-Poonch road will be completed by December 2023,” he said.