Delayed by over 20 yrs, Kashmir’s rail projects face cost overrun of Rs.34,561 Cr
The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL), the biggest project in the construction of a mountain railway since independence, has been delayed by more than 20 years, resulting in cost overrun of over Rs.34,500 crore.
The union ministry of statistics and program implementation, in its flash report on central sector projects published in May 2022, revealed that the cost of the USBRL project was estimated at Rs.2,500 crore when it was approved in March 1995.
The project was expected to be completed in November 2002 but missed several deadlines set by the successive union governments, notwithstanding it was declared as a project of “National Importance” in March 2002. Work on the toughest 111-km-long Katra-Banihal section is still in progress and it is expected to be completed by next year,
“Now, the cost of the project has escalated to Rs.37,061.06 crore with expected date of commissioning in April 2023,” the report stated, adding “the project has recorded a time overrun of 245 months (20 years and five months)”.
Having recorded a cost overrun of 1382.44 percent since the approval of the project, there has been not even a single “milestone” achieved during these years of construction. “The anticipated cost of commissioning, to be achieved in April 2023 (if all goes as per plans) is Rs.37061.06 crore against the earlier revised cost of Rs.27,949 crore. Till date, a cumulative expenditure of Rs.29,016.55 crore has been made on the project,” the report said.
Over the delay in execution of the project, the Union government has cited the reasons of “law and order issues” and “ban on mining of minor aggregates in UT of J&K from November 2019”.
“As far as law and order issues are concerned, a close liaison is maintained with state government while the ban on mining of minor aggregates in UT of J&K with effect from November 2019, adversely affected the works of tunnel and bridges till July 2021 resulting in accumulation of arrears of around 35 kms. Now, Private E-auctions for open mining blocks have been finalised by the J&K UT government and the issue stands resolved,” the report said while quoting the govenrment of India as saying.
The report of projects costing over Rs.150 crore and above (containing status of 1568 central sector infrastructure projects) prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation has stated in its latest flash report ending May 2022 that the total original cost of these projects was Rs.21,59,802.67crore and their anticipated completion cost is likely to be Rs.26,54,818.05 crore, which reflects overall cost overruns of Rs.4,95,015.38crore (22.92% of original cost).
The 272-km USBRL Project is being executed as a “National project” involving salient features like 38 tunnels, combined length of 119-km. The longest tunnel length is 11.2015 km. There are 927 bridges, with a combined length of 13 Km. These bridges include the iconic Chenab Bridge, overall length 1315 m, arch span of 467 m and height of 359 m above river bed, which will be the highest railway bridge in the world. Indian railways’ first cable-stayed bridge; overall length of 450 m is also being constructed on Anji Khad.
Pertinently, work on the Jammu-Udhampur section (53 Km) has been completed and opened to the public by the then Prime Minister in April 2005. The section from Anantnag to Rajwansher (66 km) was opened to the public by the then Prime Minister in October 2008.
The section from Rajwansher to Baramulla (35km) was inaugurated and dedicated to the nation by the Chairperson of UPA Sonia Gandhi in February 2009. The section from Qazigund to Anantnag (18 km) was opened to the public by the then Prime Minister in October 2009. Work is in various stages of progress in the balance length from Katra to Banihal.
