Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Oct 8: The ambitious Srinagar Ring Road project, a four-lane road encircling Srinagar city, has seen some progress this year, with officials claiming that nearly 35 percent of the work has been completed and the project is poised to get completed ahead of schedule by December 2024.
Officials informed Excelsior that the project faced initial delays in the first three years, with only 9 percent of the work being completed due to roadblocks, including challenges associated with affected landowners. However, work has been progressing at a steady pace, with the National Highway Authority of India completing nearly 26 percent of the overall work this year.
According to Indresh Kumar, Project Director for the National Highways Authority of India, work on the project is moving ahead at full speed, with nearly 35 percent of the work already completed.
“The project is now on track, as all the initial obstacles have been cleared. There are no funding or other issues, and we expect to complete the project by December 2024,” he said. He added that work slowed during the last winter due to weather conditions but has been progressing well since then.
According to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the project involves several construction components, each with its own defined scope and progress status. Initially, there were 177 planned culverts, but this number has been reduced to 148 due to a change in scope. Currently, 89 culverts have been completed, and 11 are still in progress.
Similarly, for Minor New Bridges (MNB), the original plan included 29 bridges, which were later reduced to 25. Currently, 5 MNBs have been completed, while 15 are still under construction. Major bridges have seen a scope change, increasing from 1 to 3, and all three are currently in progress. Longitudinal Ventilation and Utility Passage (LVUP) units, initially numbering 17, have been reduced to 16. Among these, 8 units have been completed, and 6 are in progress.
Furthermore, as per NHAI, the project includes 3 flyover-cum-interchange units, and all 3 are actively under construction. High-Performance Concrete (HPC) units were not originally part of the scope but have been added, totaling 104 units. Of these, 73 units have been completed, and 5 are still in progress. Additionally, one aqueduct was introduced within the project scope and has been completed.
For Retaining Wall Erection, as per the NHAI, the initial plan covered 26.387 kilometres, of which 4.78 kilometres have been completed and 2.5 kilometres are currently in progress. In the case of Syphons, 17 were introduced as part of the scope change, with 4 already completed and 6 in progress. There are two Road Under Bridges (RUBs) within the project, and both of them have been completed. Originally, seven overpasses were planned, with six included in the project scope, and four of them are currently under construction. Additionally, both Viaducts and Vertical Underpasses (VUP) each have one unit within the project scope, and both are currently in progress.
The project was part of the Prime Minister’s Development Project (PMDP) for Jammu and Kashmir, and its foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018. However, the project’s development was halted due to a delay in acquiring land from the affected landowners. The project involves building a 60.84-kilometre-long, four-lane semi-ring road in two phases. Phase I encompasses a 42-km section from Galander to Narbal, linking Sumbal in the Bandipora district with Galander, close to Pampore town. Phase II includes an additional 18.84-km stretch from Narbal to Ganderbal.
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