DelhiâÂÂAmritsarâÂÂKatra Expressway is an under-construction long, 4-lane (expandable to 8 lanes) wide controlled-access expressway, which will connect Bahadurgarh border near Delhi with Katra in Jammu and Kashmir via Haryana and Punjab. It will have a spur section which will connect Nakodar with Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport located in Raja Sansi, Amritsar. The long DelhiâÂÂKatra Expressway is National Expressway 5 (NE-5) and long Nakodar-Amritsar Expressway is National Expressway 5A (NE-5A). Once completed, it will reduce the current Delhi-Katra distance from to and the time travel will be reduced from 14 hours to 6 hours, and Delhi-Amritsar distance to and from the time travel will be reduced from 8 hours to only 4 hours.
It will have a trauma centre, ambulances, fire brigades, traffic police, bus bays, truck stops, interchanges with refreshment, and recreational facilities. To be constructed as a part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana, it is expected to cost â¹40,000 crores. Detailed Project Report (DPR) was completed in November 2019, and land acquisition commenced from January 2020. M/S Feedback Infra Pvt Ltd. was appointed as DPR consultant to carry out alignment studies which submitted the final shortest proposed alignment report of DelhiâÂÂNakodarâÂÂGurdaspur section in September 2019, NakodarâÂÂAmritsar section in June 2020, and the survey is currently under progress in Jammu section. It is part of Ludhiana-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor. There are 11 National industrial corridors and numerous state level industrial corridors in India.
Project details
It is a combination of greenfield and brownfield expressway which passes through Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir. It starts from Kundli Manesar Palwal (KMP) Expressway near Nilauthi village in Jhajjar district. It will lessen the workload of Grand Trunk Road. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the NDA government planned to construct ten expressways in the country under Bharatmala Pariyojana, one of which would connect the national capital Delhi with Katra and Amritsar via Kharkhoda, Gohana, Jind, Sangrur, Malerkotla, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur.
The Greenfield expressway splits into two near Nakodar. One greenfield section towards Amritsar would pass nearby Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib, TarnTarn and ends near Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport. The second section goes straight to Katra through Gurdaspur, bypassing Kathua and Jammu, and it consists of both greenfield and brownfield parts. Central and state governments also agreed to connect Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Corridor with this expressway project. Nearly 14,000 acres of land in Punjab and 5,000 acres of Haryana will be acquired to construct these expressways. .
Construction
The NHAI has divided the construction work of DelhiâÂÂAmritsarâÂÂKatra Expressway into 2 phases with a total of 21 construction packages.
Phase 1
- The construction work of long DelhiâÂÂNakodarâÂÂGurdaspur section is divided into 12 packages. Package 8 to 12 has been awarded to the joint venture (JV) of Evrascon and MKC Infrastructure Limited (MKCIL).
NakodarâÂÂAmritsar spur
Phase 2
Route alignment
Delhi to Nakodar (Main route)
The Phase-1 of DelhiâÂÂAmritsarâÂÂKatra Expressway consists of two sections, namely DelhiâÂÂNakodarâÂÂGurdaspur (NE-5) and NakodarâÂÂAmritsar (NE-5A). The Phase-2 consists of GurdaspurâÂÂKatra section. Following is the alignment agreed by the Governments of Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir with the NHAI.
Delhi
Haryana to Kanjhawala (UER-II) extension: DPR was being prepared for this 20 km section in March 2025, which will be ready by Sept-Oct 2025, after which tenders for constructions will be invited.
Alignment is from Nilothi-KharkhodaâÂÂGohana (west)âÂÂJind (east)âÂÂSafidon (west)âÂÂRatoli (AmbalaâÂÂNarnaul)âÂÂAssandh (west)âÂÂKalayatâÂÂKaithal (west)âÂÂBarta. There is a proposal to extend it in Delhi from Nilothi to "Urban Extension Road II".
- Patiala district
- Galoli southeast of Patran, enters here on KaithalâÂÂKhanauri Haryana SH-8.
- Patran (northeast of), between Patran-Samana on Moonak-Patran-Samana Punjab SH-10.
- Sangrur district
- Bhawanigarh, west of Sangrur between RoshanwalaâÂÂBhawanigarh on NH-7 BarnalaâÂÂSangrurâÂÂBhawanigarhâÂÂPatialaâÂÂChandigarh.
- between DhuriâÂÂNabha.
- between DhuriâÂÂBagrian
- between DhuriâÂÂAmargarh
- Malerkotla district
- between MalerkotlaâÂÂNabha at the southeast of Malerkotla and northwest of Nabha.
- between MalerkotlaâÂÂKhanna, immediate east of Malerkotla and southwest of Khanna on Malerkotla-Khanna Road.
- between MalerkotlaâÂÂLudhiana, immediate north of Malerkotla and south of Ludhiana on SangrurâÂÂMalerkotla-Ludhiana Punjab SH-11.
- Ahmedgarh between MalerkotlaâÂÂLudhiana
- Ludhiana district
- Jodhan (southwest of Ludhiana), on RaikotâÂÂJodhanâÂÂLudhiana road.
- Ludhiana (west of), with a new JodhanâÂÂDoraha spur as a south bypass of Ludhiana, at Doraha this spur will connect to the existing NH-5 Ludhiana-Doraha-RoparâÂÂKhararâÂÂChandigarh AirportâÂÂPanchkula.
- Mullanpur Dakha, southeast of Ludhiana on NH-5 FirozepurâÂÂMogaâÂÂJagraonâÂÂLudhianaâÂÂChandigarh Road. Interconnect with LudhianaâÂÂBathindaâÂÂAjmer Expressway.
- between Sidhwan Bet and Ludhiana, east of Ludhiana on Punjab SH-20 FirozepurâÂÂZiraâÂÂSidhwan BetâÂÂLudhiana Road.
- Jalandhar district
- Through tehsils of Phillaur, Nakodar, Jalandhar II.
- Nakodar (east of), between Nakodar-Phagwara.
- Nakodar (northeast of), between Nakodar-Jalandhar on NH-703 Nakodar-Jalandhar Road.
- Nakodar (north of), 2 following separate Y-fork expressways spurs from Nakodar: one to AmritsarâÂÂKartarpur in the west and another to JammuâÂÂKatra in the northwest - one goes to PathankotâÂÂJammu and another goes to Amritsar.
Nakodar to Amritsar (Spur-1)
First greenfield expressway spur (99 km long) from Nakodar to Amritsar through Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal Sahib, Khadur Sahib, Tarn Taran Sahib and ends at Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (Amritsar Airport).
Nakodar to Katra (Spur-2)
Second greenfield expressway spur from Nakodar to Katra passing through Kartarpur, Gurdaspur, and Dinanagar.
- Jalandhar district
- Nakodar (north of)
- Kapurthala (east of), between Kapurthala and Jalandar on NH-703A FirozepurâÂÂSultanpour LodhiâÂÂKapurthalaâÂÂJalandhar Road.
- Kapurthala (northeast of), between Kapurthala and Kartarpur.
- Kapurthala (north of), between Radha Soami Satsang Beas and Kartarpur on AH1 AmritsarâÂÂRadha Soami Satsang BeasâÂÂKartarpurâÂÂJalandhar.
- Gurdaspur district
- Sri Hargobindpur (southwest of), route realignment done at some stretches due to high-pressure "BathindaâÂÂJammu Gas Pipeline" and "GIGL's CNG Gas Plant" near Mari Buchian.
- Sri Hargobindpur (west of), between Amritsar and Sri Hargobindpur on NH-503A AmritsarâÂÂSri Hargobindpur-Urmar TandaâÂÂHoshiarpur Road.
- Gurdaspur (southeast of), between QadianâÂÂHarchowal.
- Gurdaspur (east of), between Gurdaspur and Mukerian on Punjab SH-25 GurdaspurâÂÂMukerianâÂÂTalwara Road.
- Gurdaspur (north of), at Dinanagar between Gurdaspur and Pathankot on NH-54 GurdaspurâÂÂPathankot Road.
- Pathankot district
- Pathankot (southwest of), at Bhoa.
- Pathankot (west of), at Sunder Chak
Inter-connectivity
Following provide the inter-connectivity:
Status updates
- 2019 Nov: DPR of Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway completed by NHAI.
- 2020 JunâÂÂJul: In Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir, the land acquisition process started.
- 2021 Apr: Construction work awarded by NHAI for all 12 packages on 397.7 Km long Delhi-Nakodar-Gurdaspur section, and 2 out of 3 packages on 99km long Nakodar-Amritsar section.
- 2021 Sep: NHAI announces the completion deadline is by October 2023.
- 2024 Aug: Likely completion date for Delhi-Ludhiana Katra is 31 December 2025 and 1 April 2026 for the Ludhiana-Amritsar spur. 669 km Delhi-Katra expressway almost complete in most states except Punjab due to the land acquisition issues in Punjab. Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir packages are 80-90% complete. In Punjab, where the completion rate for various packages is 3% to 90%, only 273 km is complete and 362 km is incomplete. In Punjab of the total 295 km of land required, the land acquisition of 230 km is complete in 11 out of 13 districts except Ludhiana and Gurdaspur, the remaining 65 km will be acquired by the end of September 2024.
- 2025 Nov: Due to the land acquisition issues in some parts of Punjab the completion date of the expressway is pushed back to June 2026. NHAI is actively trying to resolve the issues with the farmers for the completion of the project without any further delay.
See also
References
External links