New Delhi: The last phase of construction work at the 14.15 km Zojila Pass tunnel, one of the longest in Asia, that will provide all-year connectivity between Srinagar valley and Leh, is expected to be completed in September 2025, ahead of its deadline which was fixed for November 2026.
Zojila Pass is located at an altitude of 11,578 feet on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway and remains closed during winters (November to April) because of heavy snowfall and the temperatures dip to subzero degrees.
The makers of the strategic tunnel are of the view that armed forces will be able to use the tunnel in raw form by September 2024, which will allow the movement of essential defence supplies, arms and ammunition, towards the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, where India and China are engaged in a face-off since May 2020, according to a report in ET. On 5 May 2020, the border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted, after a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas.
According to the engineering team, the project involves 18-km tunnels, including a 13-km single tube tunnel falling in the last phase of the project, which will connect Sonamarg in Jammu and Kashmir to Minamarg in Ladakh. Also, the project has a 17-km-long road, three vertical shafts, four bridges, and other associated structures. The project also includes a 17-km road, four bridges, three vertical shafts and associated structures.
Harpal Singh, project in charge of Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, which is constructing the tunnel, told ET: “When the final tube of Zojila project is complete, the 32-km distance from Sonamarg to Minamarg will be covered in less than 40 minutes instead of four hours. Besides this, all-weather connectivity will immensely help the people of Ladakh and the forces deployed in the region.”
“We are hopeful that the tunnel will be through by September 2025, while defence can use the raw tunnel if the tension along the border continues in Ladakh till September 2024,” he added.
Further, about 1,000 people worked on the project in sub-zero temperatures, and the number of workers on the project is expected to cross 2,000 in summer.
The 18-km stretch up to Baltal, including four tubes of Nilgrar tunnels, will be complete by November 2023 and it can be put to use as well.
The financial daily quoted Singh as saying, “Himalayas are young mountains and we could not go for a blast every day. We use the New Austrian Tunnelling method in this project. Our designers and proof consultant are from Spain.”
“The construction of Zozila tunnel shall bring about all-round economic and socio-cultural integration of these regions which remains cut-off from rest of the country during winters due to heavy snowfall for about six months … This tunnel when completed will be a landmark achievement in the history of modern India. It will also be of great importance to the defence of the country, in view of the fact that massive military activities along our borders in Ladakh, Gilgit and Baltistan regions are taking place,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had said in a statement in 2020.
( https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/economy/zojila-tunnel-srinagar-leh-highway-likely-to-be-ready-by-september-2025-a-year-before-deadline-set-article-90519206)
