SRINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of rupees 39,500 crore Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway in Ferozpur Punjab. The Expressway will connect five key religious sites.
As per the official statement, Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for number of other projects as well. The 669-kilometer-long Expressway is expected to reduce the travel time between Delhi and Amritsar and Delhi and Katra by half.
The statement added that the Greenfield Expressway will connect other major Sikh religious sites such as Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran, and the Hindu temple of Mata Vaishno Devi at Katra.
Besides, it will also give connectivity to economic regions such as Ambala, Chandigarh, Mohali, Sangrur, Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Kathua and Samba in Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
The expressway is touted to reduce the distance between Delhi and Amritsar Delhi and Katra by around 40 kilometers which will allow the travellers to commute from Delhi to Amritsar within four to four and a half hours while travel between Delhi and Katra will be within six to six and a half hours. However, no time has been stipulated for the completion of the project.
The e-tenders for the were floated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in May last year from Balusa in district Pathankot, Punjab to Satwari upto the Tawi Bridge in Jammu City. This section spanned 97 kilometres and was anticipated to cost Rs 5495 crore. The construction period was scheduled to end in 2024.
The expressway will be fully accessible and environmentally beneficial. Estimated one crore trees will planted along the expressway in a bid to cut down on the carbon emissions. As per reports, all National Highways and important State Highways intersecting the Expressway will have designated interchanges for entry and departure as well as 40 wayside amenities, including seven in Jammu and Kashmir. They will be built at a cost of more than 10,400 crore with contracts for 130 kilometers already given.
(Picture is merely representational)
