Four-laning of the Srinagar-Qazigund stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, which has missed the deadline last year, may get further delayed with little progress on completion of 75 per cent of work by the end of September.
Having missed the deadlines, work on this 66-km project, part of the prestigious Srinagar-Kanyakumari national highway corridor, was further delayed due to floods last year.
With the intervention of the state government, which came under heavy criticism early this year due to the dilapidated condition of the road, the construction company was asked to complete 75 per cent of work by September this year and complete the project by June next year.
“Only 62 per cent of the work has been completed by the end of September. Completion of the work is bound to get delayed by another year,” said SK Razdan, Chief Engineer, R&B, Kashmir.
He said RAMKY Infrastructure Limited, the construction company, had been asked to complete 75 per cent of the work by September so that the entire stretch was completed by June next year.
The company had been asked to maintain the existing road to facilitate smooth movement of traffic, but floods hampered work for several months, further damaging the existing road.
Of the 66-km distance, RAMKY Infrastructure Limited had been entrusted with construction of 33-km four-lane Parimpora (Srinagar)-Lasjan-Galandhar (Pampore)-Awantipora-Beijbehara-Anantnag-Qazigund highway.
Major towns on the stretch were being bypassed to avoid congestion and minimise distance and time on traffic movement. The remaining 33 km comprising two sections was being constructed by the R&B Department of the PWD of J&K Government at a cost of Rs 334 crore, Razdan said.
