J-K to get its first cable-stayed bridge in Basholi

New Delhi, May 22 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir is all set to get its first cable-stayed bridge over river Ravi to link the state with Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will lay the foundation stone on Monday for the project at Basohli in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Basohli bridge is going to be a technological marvel and it will be a cable-stayed, similar on the lines of the Second Hoogly bridge in Kolkotta, Naini Bridge in Allahabad and the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link in Mumbai.

Basohli bridge will have a tower height of about 88 metres above deck level. Cables will only support the decking and the span regions. There will be 1.5 metre wide footpaths on both sides.

The bridge will also open up new areas for development and tourism in Kathua and Doda diastricts in Jammu and Kashmir along Ranjit Sagar Dam.

The 592-metre bridge is to be built by the Border Roads Organisation of the Ministry of Defence at a cost of Rs 145 Crores.

It will also open up an alternative route to National Highway 1A and to the Kashmir Valley via Basholi, Bani, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Chhatroo and Anantnag and boost development of these areas with better connectivity.

Scheduled to be constructed by September 2014, the bridge will open up avenues for commercial mining of materials like Gypsum and Limestone.

Defence Minister AK Antony, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for New and Renewable Energy Dr Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju will attend the function. (ANI)