NIIF to fund 1,430-km Amritsar-Jamnagar highway project

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is set to finance the Amritsar-Jamnagar national highway project. The expressway — one of the country's longest highway projects — would reduce the distance between the two cities by 10 percent. It is currently 1,430 km.NIIF is in advance stages of negotiation with the NHAI for the investment. Nearly 30 percent of the contracts for the proposed greenfield expressway have been awarded and the remaining are expected to be awarded by the year-end. Around 10-15 construction packages were awarded of which NKC Projects, VRC Construction, and Krishna Construction have bagged a score of them. NHAI is awarding 45-50 construction packages for this project, with each package costing around ₹400 crore for a length of about 20 km. The Amritsar-Jamnagar expressway is part of the top nine priority economic corridors to be linked through expressways under the Bharatmala scheme. The highway would pass through Faridkot, Bhatinda and Abohar in Punjab; Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner, Nagaur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan; and Radhanpur, Samkhiyali and Jamnagar in Gujarat.