Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Mar 30: India’s largest road tunnel connecting Chenani with Nashri, is likely to be thrown open by ending June of this year as more than 85 percent work on the project is completed while progress on four-laning of Udhampur-Ramban stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is all set to gain momentum next month after design finalization of proposed bridges there.
Pending work on 1300 meter lining in the tunnel is in progress and the same will be completed in next two months with simultaneous electric installations, which will be followed by laying of concrete road before throwing it open by June 30,” official sources told the Excelsior.
There is 86 percent overall progress on the project and the tunnel will be ready before June 30 to be thrown it open for the vehicular traffic if there is no sudden complicacy, sources added.
Pertinent to mention that earlier scheduled date of completion of this Rs 2519 crore project was May 2016 and the executing agency was hopeful of finishing the job by December 2015, around five months ahead of the deadline because of more than satisfactory pace of work.
However, a controversy over payments and claims led to slowing down of the work and then complete abandoning of job by the Leighton in November 2014 after which the Main Developer, National Highway Authority of India, engaged multiple agencies for completion of the project with new deadline of July 2016.
On both ends of this 10.5 km long tunnel, there will be a Control Panel of ventilators, lighting and fire fighting material etc, software of which has been designed in Spain.
An expert team of NHAI had recently visited Spain for software testing of the items and approval of the same, sources informed.
Once completed, the Chenani-Nashri tunnel will act as an all-weather alternative to the existing NH-1A section connecting Chenani in Udhampur with Nashri in Ramban districts. It will reduce the existing road distance between the two points from 41 kms to 10.89 kms.
Meanwhile, work on four-laning of Udhampur- Chenani and Nashri-Ramban stretches of the National Highway, which was started in last week of December 2015, is going on at six locations with satisfactory pace.
Earth work and hill cutting is in progress on the locations; Km 70-76, Km 81, Km 131-135 and Km 146-148. Men and machinery, along with 14 excavators are on job and so far 1.7 lakh cubic meter hill cutting has been done with around 30 percent job completed as of now, sources explained.
Informing that hill cutting on these locations will be completed by mid- May of this year, sources said that the overall work on the four-laning project is likely to gain momentum after design finalization of the proposed bridges on these stretches by mid- April, next month.
Besides a 888 meter long tunnel and 259 culverts, there will be five big and 29 small bridges on the Udhampur-Chenani and Nashri-Ramban stretches, which are part of NHAI’s flagship project of four-laning of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.
December 2018 is the scheduled date of completion of ongoing four-laning work on these two stretches. Gammon India Ltd has been allotted the job work and total project cost of Udhampur to Ramban is Rs 2136.97 crores (civil cost Rs 1709.99 crores).
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