Bids invited for Pathankot to Jammu Expressway worth Rs 5495 crore

Bids invited for Pathankot to Jammu Expressway worth Rs 5495 crore

The National Highways Authority of India, MoRT&H, Government of India has now floated the e-tenders for the prestigious Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar-Katra Expressway stretch from Balsua in District Pathankot, Punjab to Satwari upto 4th Tawi Bridge in the Jammu City. The total length of this stretch is 97 km & estimated cost is Rs 5495 Cr. The Construction period has been kept as 2 years & is targeted to be completed by 2024.

The Expressway will reduce the distance between Delhi to Amritsar/Katra by about 40 km and enable the commuters to travel from Delhi to Amritsar within 4 hours and Delhi to Katra within 6 hours. It will not only provide shortest connectivity to religious cities of Amritsar & Katra but also provides shortest connectivity to industrial and economic hubs of Ambala in Haryana, UT of Chandigarh, Mohali, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, in Punjab and Kathua, Samba & Jammu in J&K.

Length of main Expressway from Delhi to Katra including spurs to Amritsar and Jammu is 671 km with total estimated cost of Rs. 35,000 Cr. The bidding process for 14 out of 16 packages of Haryana and Punjab portion stands completed & Contractors have been selected.

This stretch in J&K is divided into total 4 packages out of which bids for one package was invited on 13.05.2021 and two bids invited on 21.05.2021. The DPR for the remaining brownfield stretch from Kunjwani to Domel upto Katra via existing NH-44 & NH-144 will also be finalized by end of June. The work for Forest & other statutory clearances is also under progress.

In J&K, the project will be of access controlled 4 lane expressway standards in greenfield portions (bypasses) & six lane access controlled expressway standards in brownfield portion on existing NH44. Separate 2 Lane service roads on both side of existing NH44 & underpasses at suitable spacing will also constructed as part of the project for local traffic.  

From Balsua in Pathankot on NH 54, the project will adopt a greenfield alignment & merge with NH44 near Rajbagh in Kathua. Then it will follow the brownfield NH 44 alignment except for the bypasses of Dyalachak, Hiranagar & Samba. Flyovers have been proposed to avoid any demolishment at the major builtups along the NH44 like Chadwal, Ghagwal, Vijaypur etc. and also continuous flyover will be built from Bari Brahmana to Satwari which will eliminate any chances of traffic congestion at present & in future too.

The Land Acquisition for the project is under progress and the notification u/s 3A has almost been completed for Kathua & Samba Districts and demarcation on ground has been done. The Joint measurement survey is in progress & revenue papers are being finalized by the Concerned Revenue Officials. The LA proceedings are for the first time, post abrogation of Article 370, are occurring in accordance with the NH Act 1956 wherein the land acquisition is compulsory in nature but payment will be guided by the RFCTLARR Act 2013 which will ensure optimum compensation amount to the affected parties for their land and assets.

NHAI seeks active cooperation from the UT Administration for early completion of Land Acquisition & grant of other statutory clearances including forest clearance etc. and further appeal to all sections of society for their cooperation for the mega project.