National Highway projects
Recently Chief Minister Omar Abdullah chaired a high-level review meeting to assess the progress of key national highway, expressway and tunnel projects across Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting stressed on the need to identify bottlenecks and enhance inter-agency coordination to ensure time-bound and efficient execution of vital infrastructure works.
The Chief Minister was briefed on the status of major infrastructure projects being executed by NHAI, NHIDCL, BRO and the PWD. Secretary, Public Works (R&B), Bhupinder Kumar gave a comprehensive presentation, informing that approximately a dozen major highway corridors and one expressway, spanning over 1,800 kilometers, are currently in various stages of execution. These include strategically important routes such as National Highway 44 (Jammu–Srinagar), NH-144A (Jammu–Rajouri– Poonch) and the Delhi–Amritsar–Katra Expressway (NE-5), among others.
The meeting also reviewed 12 major tunnel projects, including the Zoji La Tunnel, Z-Morh Tunnel, Panthal–Magarkote Tunnel, and other projects, many of which are in the advanced stages of construction.
Commissioner Secretary Industries and Commerce Vikramjit Singh briefed the meeting on the availability of construction material and mining permissions, highlighting recent improvements and unresolved issues requiring attention at the appropriate forums.
