Udhampur-Banihal highway widening to start soon
The work on much delayed Udhampur–Banihal highway widening project is likely to start soon as state government is pinning high hopes for the final approval of the project in soon to be held meeting of Union Cabinet Committee on Road and Surface Transport Ministry.
Highly placed sources informed that Union Cabinet Committee on Road and Surface Transport Ministry is likely to meet in next few days and will take final call on start of the work on Ramban-Udhampur section (43.3 kms) and Ramban-Banihal section (36 kms), for which tenders have already been submitted. Talking to Greater Kashmir, J&K Minister for Roads and Buildings, Altaf Bukhari said that tenders for both important roads are yet to be awarded to the bidder.
“There is process in place to conceive the projects with more than Rs 1000 crore estimated cost as all such projects are to be routed through the Union Cabinet Committee, which is likely to meet in next few days,” Bukhari said.
“The Jammu – Srinagar Highway is lifeline of Jammu and Kashmir and we are vigorously pursuing this matter with union government and probably the positive result will come in next 15 days,” he said.
Pertinently, the road widening of Udhampur- Ramban and Ramban – Banihal sections are part of the ambitious four-laning project of the Jammu-Srinagar highway. The four-laning project has been divided into six sub-projects, which include widening of Jammu-Udhampur section (65 km), Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), widening of Udhampur –Ramban section (43.3 km) , Ramban- Banihal section (36 km), Banihal – Qazigund road (15.25 km) and Qazigund- Srinagar section (67.7 km).
So far 95.30 % work has been completed on Jammu-Udhampur section, while 68.88 % work is complete on Chenani-Nashri tunnel, 30 % and 33.20% from Banihal to Qazigund and Qazigund to Srinagar sections, respectively. However, the tenders for Udhampur- Ramban and Ramban –Banihal sections were delayed for unwillingness of bidders to take up work at the estimated cost proposed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
