Completion deadline 31 Oct 2019

The construction work on the Rs.500 crore Passenger Terminal Complex at Dera Baba Nanak, Punjab for Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is going in full swing, said the Home Affairs Ministry on 14 July 2019.

Construction work is being carried out by Shapoorji & Pallonji Pvt Ltd under the supervision of Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI).

The project will be completed by 31 October, before the commemoration of 550th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in November 2019.

The Passenger Terminal Complex is being built on 15 acres land. It will have all public amenities to enable smooth passage of approximately 5,000 passengers per day.

Features of Passenger Terminal complex

Fully air-conditioned building of 16,000 sqms approximately (13,000 sqms ground floor+ 3,000 Sqms mezzanine floor).

The main building which is akin to airport buildings will have:

54 Immigrations counters for facilitating travel of 5,000 pilgrims per day.

Adequate seating capacity to accommodate 2000 pilgrims.

All necessary public amenities such as kiosks, washrooms, childcare, first aid medical facilities, prayer room and snacks counters inside main building.

Spacious parking lots to station 10 buses, 250 cars, and 250 two- wheelers.

Robust security systems with CCTV surveillance and public address systems.

Landscape area with water bodies, artefacts, sculptures of local culture, shaded seating spaces, canopies, benches up to zero point etc.

A 300-ft National Monumental Flag at the International Border.

The Construction work for the Passenger Terminal Complex is in full swing with more than 250 laborers and 30 engineers at site working in 3 shifts, aided by construction machinery such as batch mixing plant.

Excavation for the foundation is nearly complete for the whole complex while the plinth and column RCC has already started for the main passenger building.

Works are being executed in parallel to ensure simultaneous completion of different activities.

The construction of this pre-engineered building mainly envisages the plinth, foundation and columns while rest of the steel structure would be fabricated separately at other factory locations and directly transported to the site and installed.

Vendors and subcontractors for mechanical, electrical and plumbing works have been finalized and the orders for the steel structure, glazing and aluminum sheeting for roofing have been placed. Vendor for air-condition, heating & ventilation has also been finalised.

Architecture schools at Amritsar have been consulted for the display of the rich Punjabi heritage, the life and works of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji in the state-of-art building and for the landscaping of the complex.

The construction work on a four-lane Highway connecting Dera Baba Nanak from Gurdaspur-Amritsar Highway to International border is progressing in full swing.

The 4.19 km long Highway is being builtat a cost of Rs.120 crores.

The Indian Government has approved development of Karatarpur Sahib Corridor project on 22 November 2018 and the foundation stone was laid by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on 26 November 2018.

The land acquisition process for the project was initiated on 14 January 2019 and concluded on 21 May 2019.

So far,50% of the project work has been completed and the Highway would be completed by 30 September 2019.

The substructure construction work of the bridge i.e. piling, pile caps has been completed on the Indian side. Piers and Piers caps casting work is under progress along with girder casting work.

So far three technical level talks have been held with the Pakistani technical team to discuss issues related to this project such as zero point coordinates, finished road level, width of bridge at zero point etc.

The Pakistan Authorities were apprised that India is constructing a bridge at the Ravi Creek on Indian side of International Border and requested Pakistan side to also construct a bridge on Budhi Ravi Channel on their side. fiinews.com