Four-laning project on Srinagar-jammu national highway set to miss deadline
SRINAGAR:THE much-hyped fourlaning project of Srinagarjammu national highway is set to miss another deadline as the work on the Qazigund Banihal tunnel and the stretch between Banihal and Ramban is facing impediments due to current situation and weather vagaries.
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials, however, say the work is going on at full pace and most of the projects which are part of this ambitious 247 kilometre highway will get completed by December 2021.
The NHAI was set to complete the work on the tunnel by the end of this year but now the deadline has been extended till July year.
The 8.45 kilometre long tunnel between Qazigund to Banihal once complete is going to become a vital part of the national highway and is the second biggest tunnel on the national highway, coming only after the 9 kilometre long Chenani-nashri tunnel which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2017. Usually during winters and monsoon, the Qazigund-banihal and Ramban stretches are the most vulnerable due to landslides and snow cover.
With the completion of the four-laning project, the highway would become operational during snowfall as well. The twolane tunnel, in which each is around seven metres wide is 400 metres ahead of the existing tunnel and will reduce around 15 kilometre distance between Qazigund and Banihal. The work on this tunnel was started in 2011.
“There are many reasons why we are going to miss this deadline. The situation in the Valley and the weather vagaries are among a few,’’ said Hemraj Bhagat, project director, National Highway Authority of India.
He said that 79% of the work on the tunnel has been completed. “The work is already underway and hopefully this tunnel will be completed next year.” He said the work got stopped on the four-laning and tunnel project on August 5, due to the law and order situation in Kashmir.
“The work remained comnext pletely frozen for a month.
He said the Srinagar-qazigund stretch is already complete and once the Qazigund=-banihal tunnel gets through, it’s going to be a smooth drive from Srinagar to Banihal. “Around 90% work on the Srinagar-jammu national highway four-laning will be over by December 2021 and rest of the work will be completed within a year.”
He said that on that volatile Banihal-ramban stretch, majority of the work will get completed by 2021, barring 5 to 10 kilometres. “The reasons for delay are many— landslides and weather adversaries are one of the most important factors. We can’t close the existing road for four-laning work. The biggest hurdle is that we have to conjawahar struct the road while traffic is moving. We can’t think of doing earthwork in the upper parts while traffic movement is on as the construction could trigger landslides any time.” He said that the major issue apart from climatic adversaries is the frequent traffic jams. “Many times our project vehicles also get struck in the jams on the national highway.”
Bhagat said that from Qazigund to Banihal, work is going at full speed on six small tunnels. “There is 30 to 35% progress in the work. We are hopeful that all these tunnels will get completed by 2020.”
National Highway Authority of India manager Gurav said the work began after some impediments due to the situation.