Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Wednesday informed that work has started on the first-of-its-kind Katra (Jammu and Kashmir)-Delhi Express Road Corridor which will be ready by 2023.
When it becomes functional, the Minister said, the travel time from Katra to Delhi will get reduced to around six and half hours, and from Jammu to Delhi to just about six hours. Sharing the details, Singh stated that once this express road corridor becomes functional, people will prefer to travel to Delhi by road instead of undertaking journey by train or by Air.
“The hallmark of this road corridor is that it will connect the holy cities of Katra and Amritsar, and at the same time offer connectivity for some other major important religious shrines between the two destinations,” he said. Singh further informed that after completion of the survey by Feedback Consultants Ltd, the process of acquisition of land is nearly complete and the work on the ground has started.Estimated to cost over Rs 35,000 crores, the Minister said, the important cities through which this expressway corridor will pass include Jammu and Kathua in J&K, and Jalandhar, Amritsar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana in Punjab.Meanwhile, Singh said, simultaneous widening of the National Highway between Pathankot and Jammu is also being undertaken, to upgrade it from four lane to six lane, which will also prove to be a great boon for the commuters between Jammu, Kathua and Pathankot.
