Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh, on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the implementation of prestigious Jammu Ring Road project besides assessing status of other road communication projects being executed by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Dr Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner Secretary Public Works (R&B) Department, Rohit Kansal, Deputy Commissioner, Samba, Sheetal Nanda, IGP Jammu Danish Rana and Deputy Commissioner Jammu Simrandeep Singh besides senior officers of NHAI, PWD, JMC, Forest and other concerned departments attended the meeting.The meeting was informed that proposed Ring Road would take off from Raya Morh in Vijaypur of Samba district and connect with Jammu-Srinagar Highway at Nagrota Bye-pass on NH-1A. This road with a width of 60 meter in plain and 45 meter in hilly areas will pass through Samba, R S Pura, Bishnah and Jammu Tehsils.
While reviewing the project, Deputy Chief Minister said that with the completion of this prestigious project, the road network in Jammu and Samba would be expanded manifold providing connectivity to about 44 villages of both the districts.NHAI officials apprised the Dy CM that the DPR of the project has been completed and sent to Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways for consideration. He further informed that the land acquisition for the prestigious project is under process and is likely to be completed by March 2017.Deputy CM said that modern and quality infrastructure is essential for speedy development of an area and it is the endeavor of present dispensation to upgrade and strengthen the existing infrastructural edifice in the state. In this regard, he expressed gratitude to the Center for extending liberal funding to the State under various projects being executed here. Dr Singh said that timely and quality completion of projects is priority of the state government which is pre-requisite for accelerating economic, trade and social activities. “The state, during the regime of present government, is witnessing a tremendous improvement in all fields of development with emphasis on equipping the unattended areas with enhanced basic services”, he maintained.
Deputy CM asked the concerned departments to be proactive in their approach towards effective implementation of welfare and development programmes being done in the state. He asked them to ensure that all bottleneck impeding project implementation are removed at all levels besides making sure that the timelines fixed are strictly adhered to. The Deputy CM also reviewed the status of National Highways Dayalachak-Shallan-Udhampur and Lakhanpur-Mahanpur-Basohli-Dunera.Later, the Dy CM took a review of construction of various roads taken up by NHAI including Udhampur-Ramban, Ramban-Banihal, Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, Srinagar-Banihal and Qazigund-Banihal. While reviewing progress on Chenani-Nashri tunnel, the Minister was informed that civic works have already been completed and other remaining works are in progress and are expected to be completed by February this year.