Story by : Bhushan Mhapralkar

Fastest project in the hilly area of the country that was completed six months ahead of schedule, the new four-lane Jammu Udhampur highway assures safe, smooth and efficient journey for truckers and bus operators.

It took two-and-a-half hours to travel between Jammu and Udhampur. The two-lane highway over the distance of 64 km passed through the lofty mountain terrain. Also providing a road link for Katra to ensure that it was connected with the rest of the India, the highway was wrought with blind curves. Termed as dangerous, it formed a crucial link of the Jammu Srinagar highway. In an effort to modernise the infrastructure, the 64 km stretch has been four-laned by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), and it now takes 64 minutes to cover the distance. Engineered to have less curves, which makes it safe, the new highway allows speeds of up to 60 kmph. The earlier speed limits were in the region of 25 to 30 kmph. An outcome of an ambitious modernisation exercise undertaken by NHAI for the Srinagar Jammu National Highway, the stretch connecting Jammu with Udhampur was renovated by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. One of the six sub-projects that the NHAI divided the exercise into, the stretch done by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group has been the fastest project in the hilly area of the country. The given schedule to complete the project was 36 months. A slight delay was anticipated due to topography and other problems.

Challenges galore

While work is on at various stages on the five other sub-projects – Chenani-Nashri tunnel (9.2 km), widening of Ramban-Udhampur section (43.3 km), Banihal-Ramban section (36 km), Qazigund-Banihal road (15.25 km) and Srinagar-Banihal section (67.7 km), the Jammu Udhampur section is complete and operational. Activity at the Jammu Udhampur stretch began in 2011, and amidst many challenges. Some 35 per cent of the land was available, and this meant that the 64 km stretch would have to be closely monitored. Averred S. Mukundan, Managing Director, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Co. Pvt. Limited, “Apart from delayed land acquisition and environmental clearances, we had to encounter difficult terrain and harsh climatic conditions. Our tunnels were located in wildlife sanctuary area for which we had to obtain specific approvals. AFCONS, as the main EPC contractor to the project, carried out the construction of the highway stretches along with bridges, viaducts and tunnels. AFCONS expertise was especially essential in executing the project in difficult hilly terrain and completing it ahead of schedule.” AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, also a Shapoorji Pallonji Group company, deployed 8000 workers to ensure that the project was completed before time. It was decided that the project be divided into two sections. Two crack teams were thus installed. A special purpose vehicle, SP Jammu Udhampur Highway Limited (SP JUHI), was floated. The purpose was to domicile privately funded projects for better risk management. “To float a special purpose vehicle is customary to domicile privately funded projects for better risk management. It is also better for all the entities involved – the concessionaire, lenders as well as the authority. It is, in fact, a requirement of the authority to assign the project to a special purpose vehicle company incorporated specifically for and limited to this purpose. For developers like us, it also enables us to raise project financing on non-recourse basis and based on project cash flows,” S. Mukundan expressed.

Project of structures

With roads a preferred mode of transport in India, and statistics suggesting that highways carry 60 per cent of freight and 80 per cent of passenger traffic, the Jammu Udhampur four-laning project turned out to be a project of structures rather than just a renovation of an old highway. What grabbed the attention of Shapoorji Pallonji Group as yet another infrastructure project, turned out to be one of the most challenging as well as rewarding. Stated S. Mukundan, that BOT highways is a focus area for Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure Capital Company. Especially where it can bring its strengths in financing and construction of complex projects. Jammu Udhampur fit the bill quite well to get us interested in the project. For several decades, NH1-A has served as a vital link between the nation’s frontiers and its coasts. Having enabled the mobilisation of soldiers and weaponry to forward positions during conflicts, the four-laning and renovation of Srinagar Jammu highway is part of the Phase II National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). It was entrusted to NHAI by the Government of India. An important part of the route the people of Jammu & Kashmir as well as the pilgrims travel over, an estimated 15,000 vehicles ply daily. Of these, 3,000 are defence vehicles. Prone to be a reason of disconnect between the rest of the country and the Kashmir valley during winter, the project demanded that traffic was not affected. It also demanded a smooth traffic diversion plan. The same was executed with much precision. Two lanes were made available to vehicles through out the duration.

Fastest project in a hilly area of India

Termed by RP Singh, Project Director, NHAI, as the fastest project in the hilly area of the country, much attention was paid to ensure that there were less curves, and that the travel speeds went up. Bends were widened. With Jammu & Kashmir a sensitive state, blasting is not allowed. This posed yet another challenge. Excavation had to be done by rock breakers and environmental norms were strictly followed. Construction of numerous bridges, viaducts and underpasses posed a major challenge. Described as a project of structures rather than a road project by Ananta Kumar, who headed the Udhampur section of the project for AFCONs, 76 bridges, viaducts and underpasses were built. A retaining wall of 10 km was built apart from 223 culverts. A breast wall of 27 km was built. Four tube tunnels were made in the Nandini hills. A novel technique of tunnel construction was employed, and an integrated water-proofing arrangement was used. The RCC lining that involved the use of gantry, was replaced with Steel Fibre Reinforced Shotcrete (SFRS) and lattice girder. This made the construction of the tunnels independent of the gantry. While the construction of tunnels was also made easy, in the case of water-proofing, the water-proofing agent was directly mixed with SFRS. In between the initial and final layer of SFRS, a spray based bonding agent was applied. Not only did it provide a second layer of water proofing, it also acted as a bonding agent for SFRS. A road header machine was especially introduced in conjunction with a drum cutter inside the tunnels. The two machines seamlessly combined to cut through the rock with scissor-like precision.

The four Nandini tunnels reduced the distance between Jammu and Udhampur by seven kilometres. While the tunnels along with the series of new bridges cover only 3.60 km straight area, Tunnel T4 has the maximum length of 540 m followed by T3 (330 m), T2 (300 m) and T1 (210 m). They were constructed at a cost of Rs. 101.31 crore. The tunnels are illuminated and have two lanes with footpath on both the sides. One bridge between T-1 and T-2 has the height of about 52 m, highest in the project. Excavation of 3,84,300 cu. m. was completed in a month, and included that of hard rock. Bituminous works of 53,300 cu. m. were executed in a single month and 67,300 cu. m. WMM was produced and paved in a single month. This clearly was not a conventional road project. According to Col. Sanjiv Puri, Team Leader, SP JUHI, every facet of road building was dealt with in this project. The most challenging part of the project was undoubtedly the loop at the Bann area. According to S. Mukundan, a wide array of equipment was deployed, which included tower cranes, bridge builders, rock cutters, concrete pumps, etc. “Innovative practices for slope stabilisation were adopted. This resulted in high productivity despite delays in land availability, and we were able to complete the project ahead of schedule. We also managed to ensure that there was no cost overrun,” he added.

Successful placing of debentures

Completed six months ahead of the schedule, SP JUHI has successfully placed and priced non-convertible debentures of Rs. 2,610 crores. By doing so, it will be able to retire outstanding foreign currency and rupee borrowings. Marking many firsts according to S. Mukundan, the Group has achieved yet another landmark in the infrastructure space by successfully placing and pricing non-convertible debentures. Apart from being the longest tenor (15 years) infrastructure asset backed bond, it is also the first project backed bond to have a call option on part of the issue size. It is among the tightest pricing achieved by a project bond. Rated AAA (SO) by ICRA, at Rs 2,610 crores, this is among the largest private sector infrastructure bonds issued in India. Largest bond in the roads sector, and backed by annuity payments from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the proceeds of the bond will help SP JUHI to lower its cost of debt and importantly eliminate exchange rate risk of the existing foreign currency debt. Concluded S. Mukundan, that they have demonstrated their capabilities in completing this massive project ahead of schedule, which is a first for hilly terrain projects. “We are confident that we will be able to take similar such challenging projects and deliver value to the national highways development programme,” he added.