The work on the greenfield section of the Amritsar-Jamnagar Economic Corridor is in full progress, with a 400 km stretch in Rajasthan set to be opened in March 2023.
The Amritsar–Jamnagar Economic Corridor (EC-3) is being developed by the NHAI under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I.
The flagship 1224-km-long corridor will connect the economic towns of Amritsar, Bhatinda, Sangaria, Bikaner, Sanchore, Samakhiyali and Jamnagar across the four states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Alignment
The total length of Amritsar to Jamnagar alignment is 1224 km, out of which 917 Km is greenfield alignment, while the rest is being built by upgrading existing national highways.
It starts near village Tiba in Kapurthala district on Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway (NE-5A) and ends at Jamnagar district in Gujarat.
The Greenfield section of the corridor of length 917 km includes 155 km from Amritsar to Bhatinda in Punjab and 762 km from Sangariya town in Hanumangarh district in Rajasthan to Santalpur in Patan district in Gujarat.
While the entire corridor is being developed at a total capital cost of INR 26,000 Crore, the aaccess-controlled greenfield corridor is being implemented at a total capital cost of Rs 22,757 crore.
The work for the entire greenfield alignment is awarded and the 594 km stretch has been constructed till October 2022.
Significance
The Amritsar-Jamnagar Corridor will connect the northern industrial and agricultural centers of the country with the key ports of western India like Jamnagar and Kandla.
This will help boost the industrial revolution connecting industrial belt of Baddi, Bhatinda and Ludhiana through spurs and the state of Jammu and Kashmir through Delhi- Amritsar- Katra Expressway.
The corridor which is also known as trans-Rajasthan corridor will significantly reduce the transit time and logistics cost, thus helping the competitive global export marketplace.
The expressway will be the first expressway in India, connecting three oil refineries of Bathinda, Barmer and Jamnagar which makes it strategically important.
The Barmer refinery which is the first of its kind in Rajasthan and is being developed by a joint venture (JV) between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Government of Rajasthan, is set to be completed by March 2023.