Road projects likely to get a renewed push :

Jammu and Kashmir’s road connectivity programme will get further boost as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) revoked provisions of Article 370 or the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The revocation bifurcated the region into two union territories-- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakah. This will make the two union territories come under the Central government, which in turn is expected to give better focus on roads and infrastructure in that region, that has been lagging behind due to violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir has achieved the highest road length in the country in the year 2019 so far under a Centre's rural roads' programme with the completion of around 11,400 kilometres covering 1,838 habitations  This includes 1,161 km for the current financial year against the total sanctioned road length of 19,700 km.The work is being carried under the centrally-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which is a mega flagship programme with the main objective of providing connectivity to rural areas.The programme is being implemented by the Public Works (Roads and Buildings) Department of the Union Territory.

In a bid to improve connectivity between Kashmir and rest of the country, a sum of Rs 42,000 crore has been earmarked under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) for construction of national highways and tunnels in state. The road infrastructure will also strengthen connectivity with areas along the Line of Control (LOC) and International Border (IB).

According to Public Works Minister, the centre has also agreed to sanction projects worth Rs 1200 crore under the Central Road Fund (CRF). As many as 511 bridges are under construction in the state and 18 bridges have been completed in current year while as 26 bridges are expected to be completed during next fiscal.  204 bridges, 117 in Jammu and 87 in Kashmir, are targeted to be completed upto 2019-20. Under PM’s package, two ring road projects have been approved for the state at the cumulative cost of Rs 4,000 crore, one in Srinagar at the cost of Rs 2,201 crore and other in Jammu at the cost of Rs 2,097 crore. Stressing the need for expanding connectivity, ironically even after 70 years of independence, connectivity continues to be the biggest challenge for Jammu and Kashmir.

Presently, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is working on five road projects spanning 189 km and worth 10,176 crore in Jammu and Kashmir and the latest development is expected to kick start more projects.

These projects are: four laning of 40.07 km Jammu-Udhampur section of NH-44, four laning of 32.10 km of Ramban-Banihal road on NH-44, four laning of 67.76 km Srinagar-Banihal section on NH-44, construction of 58.26 km ring road around Jammu city, four laning of Quazigund-Banihal section, which includes tunnel and two-lane. Besides, National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) is working on two-laning of Chenani-Sudhmahadev-Goha on NH-244. NHIDCL builds, operates, maintains and upgrades national highways and strategic roads, including roads that share international boundaries with neighbouring countries.

NHIDCL, a public sector company under road ministry is also working on building two tunnels—6.5 km Z-Morh tunnel and 14.3 km Zojila tunnel. The Zojila tunnel will connect Srinagar and Leh and is expected to bring about strategic and socio-cultural integration of this region and develop economically backward districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

An expert said that a lot of development activity and funding is expected to kick start in Jammu and Kashmir. Now there will be a lot of infrastructure requirement to support the industrial and commercial growth in that region. To that extent, it is a big positive for the infrastructure sector. If better projects come up, there will be better returns.

For the overall development, one can expect funding from global lending agencies these projects will be backed by the government, which will increase its certainty and credibility.Jammu-Srinagar, Batote-Kishtwar- Simthan, Uri-Srinagar and Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch have been declared as the new National Highways.

The work on six stretches on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway has commenced. Four-laning of the Parimpora-Narbal road on the Uri-Srinagar Highway is also under progress while the 4-laning of the Jammu-Akhnoor sector is likely to start soon. The work on Z-Morh Tunnel to promote all weather connectivity with Sonamarg and beyond has commenced and that on Zojila Tunnel project is likely to start soon.

It is stressed the need for an arrangement for the timely and regular maintenance of National Highways by the various agencies concerned. A time-bound action plan should be drawn for undertaking a drive to remove all encroachments along the NHs in the state. No fresh encroachment should be allowed and every encroacher should be strictly dealt with. The concerns should be taken in light over encroachments along the highways and the failure of the officials concerned to discharge their duties under the J&K Ribbon Development Act and the Highway Administration Act, 2002.