4-lane highway for Kartarpur Sahib to be ready by Sept 30: govt

New Delhi | A four-lane highway linking Gurdaspur-Amritsar road to the international border for pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara in Pakistan will be ready by September-end, an official release said Sunday.

The construction work on the highway to the international border is progressing in full swing and half of the work of the entire project is already complete, the statement added. The 4.19 km-long highway is being built at a cost of Rs 120 crore.

The government of India had approved the development of the Karatarpur Sahib corridor project on November 22 last year. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on November 26, the statement said.

The land acquisition process for the project was initiated on January 14 this year and concluded on May 21.

The construction of bridge substructure, including its piling and pile caps has been completed on the Indian side, the statement said, adding the works of casting piers and piers caps is under progress along with the girder casting work.

So far three technical level talks have been held with the Pakistani technical team to discuss issues related to this project such as zero point coordinates, finished road level, width of bridge at zero point.

During the talks, the Pakistani authorities were also apprised of the fact that India was building the bridge on the Ravi Creek on the Indian side of international border and requested Pakistan to construct a bridge on Budhi Ravi Channel on their side, the statement said.

But the Pakistani side initially proposed road on embankment and later on the proposed causeway. Both these options are not acceptable to India as there will be danger to the habitations on the Indian side in case of flood while the road too will not be an all-weather one, it said.