The completion of the Jammu-Akhnoor four-lane road project has been targeted by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for March 2025.

The project was authorised by the government in 2015, but it is only between 2021 and 2023 that the construction work picked pace, reports The Week.

The task of expanding the Jammu-Akhnoor Road to a four-lane highway is being undertaken by the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), at an estimated cost of Rs 1,345 crore.

The NHIDCL operates under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

 "Almost all the hindrances have been cleared and the construction work has gained pace from 2021 to 2023. We have made the road stretch up to 4.4 kilometres under phase-1 and hope the work of other phases may be completed by 2025 February and March," stated Col Surajpal Singh Sagwan, general manager, NHIDCL.

Jammu-Akhnoor highway is a stretch of National Highway 144-A, which connects the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch with Jammu and is also a very important defence road.  

The ongoing expansion on completion is expected to significantly reduce travel time between Jammu and Akhnoor by half.

The project has been divided into four packages.

Currently, work is underway for Package-1 involving a 0.8 km section from Bhagwati Nagar Chowk (4th Tawi Bridge) to Canal Head in Jammu city.

In Package-2, the flyover has been completed and is now fully operational and more than 72 per cent of work on the 20-kilometre-long stretch under Package-3 has been completed.