Srinagar, July 10 (KNS): The Government has given green signal to the construction agency for the construction of the ambitious Srinagar ring road project which would ease traffic movement on highways and facilitate hassle free inter-district movement.

The mega project would be executed by National Highway Authority of India. The e-foundation of Srinagar and Jammu ring roads projects was laid by by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018.

KNS learnt from official sources that the Jammu project is inching towards completion but Srinagar project hit a dead end due to the land acquisition issues. The ring road for Srinagar will starts at Galander and will join the highway at Narbal Junction in its Phase-I. The road would be four-lane with six-lane future projection. During the II phase, a two-way road will be constructed from Narbal till Ganderbal. The project is likely to cost Rs 1195 crore in Phase-I and Rs 448 crore in Phase-II.The road length in the Phase-I will be 34.72 kilometers and in the Phase-II 27.2 kilometers. There is also a proposal of construction of a Toll Plaza at Narbal Junction. According to the DPR of the proposed project; from Galander to Narbal, there will be 155 culverts, two road-over bridges, two flyovers, five major junctions, 17 minor junctions and one Toll Plaza.The two-lane road from Narbal to Ganderbal will have 135 culverts, five major junctions and nine minor junctions.

The projects would keep a space for widening from four-lane to six-lane and from two-lane to four-lane for future needs.

Meanwhile Goverment has also given a go ahead for the construction of tunnel between Ramban and Banihal stretch for making the road all weather road.

A senior official told KNS that that with the commissioning of the tunnel, road will remain open during heavy snowfall also and would not be affected by the weather vagaries.

It would provide people and Government recpite from a frequent closure of the road in winters which was affecting the supply line to Valley (KNS)