More than 90 percent land acquired, says Project Director
By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: The work has finally begun on the ambitious Ring Road project in Srinagar, which is part of the Prime Minister’s Development Project(PMDP) for Jammu & Kashmir.
Talking to Precious Kashmir, Deputy General Manager and Project Director, National Highways Authority of India, Arun Kumar said work on the project commenced in August this year. “The project has to be completed in a period of 30 months,” he said, adding that construction cost of the project is Rs 1206 crore.
Documents accessed by this newspaper reveal that NHAI has declared August 6, 2021 as appointed date for the project. The “appointed date” is the official date for the contractor to start work.
In 2018, the project was awarded to Ramky Infrastructure Limited. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also laid foundation stone for the project in May 2018. But work on the project could not begin due to delay in land acquisition with Ramky Infrastructure Ltd and also terminating the contract due to non-handing over of minimum 90% land.
After rebidding, the project was allotted to NKC Projects Limited and an agreement was signed by NHAI with the contractor on May 31, 2021.
According to the documents, minimum 90% land is now available for the project. As per officials, work started only after 90 percent land was acquired for the project.
The construction of the 60.84-km-long four-lane Semi-Ring Road around Srinagar city is to be taken up in two phases. Under the phase-I, a 42-km stretch will be taken up and in the phase-II, the construction of the additional 18.84-km four-lane road shall be taken up.
The phase-I will connect Galandar near Pampore town with Sumbal in Bandipora district.
The project will drastically reduce the vehicular rush in Srinagar city, which is already grappling with frequent traffic jams.