IMS, Katra Expressway, Jmu-Sgr NH review on Apr 11
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 9: Union Minister of Road, Transport and National Highways Nitin Gadkari along with the Members of Parliament (MPs) will tomorrow visit Zojila tunnel on Srinagar-Leh National Highway to inspect work on the tunnel which is expected to be completed by 2026 to connect Ladakh with rest of the country by road for entire year.
Gadkari will also address the MPs, who are part of Parliamentary Consultative Committee of MORTH at Sonamarg tomorrow, official sources told the Excelsior.
The Union Minister will review progress of work on National Highways and Roads in the Union Territory of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir at the high-level meeting tomorrow.
He will brief the Parliamentary Consultative Committee members on number of works of MORTH including National Highways and major roads going on in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
On April 11, Gadkari accompanied by Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh will visit Banihal-Ramban stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and inspect progress of the work.
They will also inspect the site for construction of Inter-Modal Station (IMS) at holy town of Katra in Reasi district and Katra-Delhi Expressway in the afternoon.
Gadkari will return to New Delhi in the afternoon of April 11.
An MoU for construction of IMS at Katra was signed between National Highways Logistics Management Limited (NHLML) and Katra Development Authority (KDA) on August 30, 2022 in New Delhi in presence of Gadkari, MoS VK Singh and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
The IMS will have Bus Stand, Railway Station, helipad and other related facilities at one place. Traffic from under-construction Delhi-Amritsar-Jammu-Katra Expressway will also land at the IMS.
The IMS is being developed in Katra to improve travelling experience of pilgrims who are visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.
The IMS will come up at 25 acres land where entire transport coming to Katra from New Delhi-Amritsar-Jammu-Katra Expressway will land. It will have enough capacity to accommodate the vehicles and ensure smooth entry and exit. It will have space for all kind of transport.
The Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, which will also be reviewed by Gadkari and Dr Jitendra Singh, will have a total length of 669 kilometers and will be developed at a total cost of about Rs 39,500 crore.
“The Expressway will halve travel time from Delhi to Amritsar and Delhi to Katra,” sources said.
The work on the strategic Zojila tunnel, which will be reviewed by Nitin Gadkari and Members of Parliament (MPs) tomorrow which will be an all-weather connection between the Kashmir valley and the Ladakh region, is going on at a rapid pace and over 40 per cent of the drilling has been completed, sources said.
The project is likely to be completed by December 2026.
The tunnel project – through the mighty Zojila Pass at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National highway – is of strategic importance as the highway remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall, cutting off Ladakh region from Kashmir.
The single-tube Zojila tunnel – from Baltal, in the Ganderbal district of central Kashmir, to Minimarg, in Drass town of Kargil district of Ladakh, is 13 km long with an approach road of 18 km.
This project is a huge game changer by the Government of India. The total length of the project from Sonamarg to Minimarg is 31 km. From Sonamarg to Baltal, it is 18 km, and then the main tunnel from Baltal to Minimarg which is 13 km long. The work is going on at a rapid pace on both the projects.
Out of the total 31 km project from Z-Morh tunnel in Sonamarg, to Baltal, the approach road is 18 km and the work is also going on their simultaneously.
About 60 per cent of work has been completed on this. There are four bridges on which about 80 per cent of the work has been completed. There is five-km Nilgarh tunnels which have been completed. The work is going on at an advance pace and the approach road would be operational within two years, sources said.
After this tunnel is constructed, the Indian defence forces will move uninterrupted throughout the year. People of J-K and Ladakh can move throughout the year. It will be a huge advantage. What we had not been able to do in the last 75 years, you will have it in the next three to four years, sources said.
Not only will it shorten the distance, the time taken will also be very less. This distance will be covered in less than 40 minutes instead of four hours, he said.
Meanwhile, the Hyderbad based Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited today said that the work on Zojila tunnel is going on at a rapid pace and over 40 % of the drilling has been completed.
“This project is a huge game changer by the government. The total length of the project from Sonamarg to Minimarg is 31 km. From Sonamarg to Baltal, it is 18 km, and then the main tunnel from Baltal to Minimarg which is 13 km long. The work is going on at a rapid pace on both the projects,” Project Head, MEIL Harpal Singh said here.
He said the work had to be stopped for two months in the winter because of back-to-back avalanches in January in which two persons were killed and about 38 pieces of equipment of the company were buried under the snow which have not yet been retrieved.
“It was a temporary setback. I am hopeful that the whole project will be completed by December 2026,” he said.
He said the company is using a modern method of tunnelling which is known as new Austrian tunnelling method. “By this method, we have achieved three important things – the safety of the tunnel, the safety of the work-force, and the speed,” he added.
“By using this method, the chances of accidents are very low and the quality and the speed of tunnelling are very good. This is a special technology applied in Europe and North America,” he said.
Out of the total 31 km project from Z-Morh tunnel in Sonamarg, to Baltal, the approach road is 18 km and the work is also going on their simultaneously.
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