Seamless travel on 143-km in J&K as work on 5 packages of mega road project in full swing
Arteev Sharma
Jammu, February 6: Commuters on the Pathankot-Jammu-Katra route can expect a smooth and hassle-free journey by early next year, as the central government aims to complete the prestigious 670-km Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway by March 2026, provided everything goes as planned.
According to the Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, nearly 143-km length of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra (DAK) Expressway falls within Jammu and Kashmir with work under five separate packages progressing in full swing.
“Construction on these sections began on September 26, 2022, and is now in full swing, with a revised completion date of March 31, 2026”, revealed Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways while responding to a query in Lok Sabha today.
The expressway work in J&K is divided into five packages—14, 15, 16, 17, and 18—all currently under construction.
Sources said that the Package 14 (44.6 km) covers the stretch from Pathankot-Gurdaspur Road (NH-54) near Balsua to Hiranagar Road near Gurha Baildaran. It is being executed by Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd. at an estimated cost of Rs 3,044.02 crore and this section is expected to be completed by July 2025.
“The Package 15 (35.15 km) starts at Hiranagar Road near Gurha Baildaran (Ch. 468+100) and ends at Jammu Ring Road NH-244A near Jakh village along the approved alignments by the NHAI/ MoRT&H. This section passes through Hiranagar, Ghagwal, Samba, and Vijaypur. It includes 5.1 km in Hiranagar section and 30.050 km in Ghagwal, Samba and Vijaypur areas,” sources said.
Sources further revealed that the Package 16 (11.8km) is the development of Jakh (Vijaypur)-Kunjwani section of NH-44 to 6-lane Expressway standards (Km 503.200 to km 515.) to provide connectivity to Jammu Airport.
Similarly, the Package 17 consists of 2 disjointed parts – a 13.3-km brownfield section of NH-44 which will be upgraded between Kunjwani and Sidhra and a 15.62 km greenfield section between Domel and Katra with under estimated cost of Rs 1547.91 crore under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) model. A two-year deadline was set for its execution on which the work was started June 15, 2023. The revised deadline of the project is February 19, 2026.
“As far as the Package 18 is concerned, work on it is being executed by Gawar Construction Ltd which was declared as the lowest bidder for the civil contract of this 15.3-km project. This package involves upgrading the existing national highway NH-44 north of Jammu city between Sidhra and Ban villages into an access-controlled roadway. The Gawar’s bagged the project with a bid price of Rs. 650.99 crore which was well below NHAI’s estimate of Rs 777.56 crore.
Pertinently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra (DAK) Expressway on April 22, 2022. Initially estimated at Rs 38,905 crore, the project cost is expected to rise as certain sections may exceed their deadlines. Once completed, the expressway will significantly reduce travel time—enabling commuters to reach Amritsar from Delhi in four hours and Katra in six hours.
