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Srinagar, Jul 21: Authorities on Thursday said that work on National Highway-444 has been completed excluding a 500 metre bridge on which work is already going on.

The National Highway-444 is an alternate highway to NH-44. It starts from Qazigund and ends in Srinagar, passing via Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama.

Chief Engineer Roads and Building Rafiq Ahmad said that National Highway-444 was an up-gradation project of 82 kms and it has been completed and is through for traffic.

He said that the 500 metre bridge is incomplete at one spot on the road, however, work on the said bridge is going on and it will be completed shortly.

Additional three by-passes to bypass Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam towns are to be constructed and two of them are under tendering process and land acquisition process of other is going on, he said.

He said that the road has been completed and three by-passes are under different projects and work on them will start soon.

The length of Shopian by-pass is 8.95 km, Kulgam by-pass 8.7 km and Pulwama is 4.75 km and they will by-pass the towns of Pulwama, Shopian and Kulgam districts, he said.

After the devastating 2014 floods, Government of India (GoI) announced a Rs 80,000 crore package for the rehabilitation process of which Rs 42,611 crore were meant for roads and highway projects.

The GoI had approved eight ‘National Highways’, with a vast network of roads and improving road connectivity in Jammu Kashmir.

The GoI had earmarked Rs 1800 crore for this ambitious project and later the 73-km road stretch from Budgam to Qazigund was changed to 83-km stretch from Nowgam to Qazigund. kno