The ambitious 1,224 km long Amritsar-Jamnagar Expressway project, which would connect the busy ports of Gujarat with industrial and agriculture centres from Punjab, is slated for completion by September 2023.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the 277 km long Bikaner to Jodhpur section of the corridor is targeted to be completed and opened to the public by 2022 end. Passing through Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, this greenfield corridor would decrease the distance between Amritsar and Jamnagar from 1,430 km to 1,256 km and cut the travel time by half from 26 hours to about 13 hours and is considered to be another major expressway similar to the Delhi Mumbai Expressway corridor.
Gadkari said the Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield corridor, one of the most important Greenfield corridors being developed by NHAI, is being constructed in a full capacity. He said the complete corridor is targeted to be completed by September 2023.Work on another ambitious expressway Delhi-Mumbai with about 1400 km length is also scheduled to be completed by March 2023.Both the projects have been taken by the central road making agency NHAI under Bharatmala Pariyojana.The Minister said the flagship 1,224 km long Amritsar - Bhatinda - Jamnagar Corridor is being developed at a total capital cost of Rs 26,000 Crore and will connect the economic towns of Amritsar, Bhatinda, Sangaria, Bikaner, Sanchore, Samakhiyali and Jamnagar across the four states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
He said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the construction of Greenfield corridors, the government is committed to the development of infrastructure in the country.Gadkari said the corridor will connect the northern industrial and agricultural centres of the country with the key ports of western India like Jamnagar and Kandla. This will help boost the industrial revolution connecting industrial belt of Baddi, Bhatinda and Ludhiana through spurs and the state of Jammu and Kashmir through Delhi – Amritsar – Katra Expressway, he added.
The Minister further said the trans-Rajasthan corridor will significantly reduce the transit time and logistics cost to fuel, will help to stand tall in the competitive global export marketplace.