Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that India is likely to get “World’s Highest and Asia’s longest” bi-directional all-weather Zojila tunnel ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The construction of the 13.5-km long Zojila tunnel which connects Sonamarg in Jammu and Kashmir to Minamarg in Ladakh is scheduled to be completed by September 2026. However, after inspecting the ongoing construction work of the project, Gadkari on Tuesday gave a new target to the Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL), which bagged the project in October 2020, to complete the project by December 2023, three years earlier than its original deadline of September 2026.
The minister said, “The completion of the project on paper is September 2026 but I have given them a target to complete the project by December 2023. It will create a new world record if we achieve the target three years before its scheduled time.”
Gadkari also requested the firm constructing the project to complete its work by December 2023, saying “all clearance and everything is there now and there is no problem from the state government and forest clearance.”
“We will provide all support and I will personally monitor things. If you (MEIL) face any problem, they can come to meet me… We have to complete this project before 2024 as there is a (Lok Sabha) election at that time,” Gadkari said.
“It (Zojila tunnel) is the World’s highest tunnel. The height of the tunnel from the surface is 11,575 feet. The length of the tunnel is 14.5 km. The length of the approach road is 18.47 km and the work in this project is also going on. The total combined length of both the Zojila tunnel and the approach road is 32.62 km,” he added.
“The total cost of the project including land acquisition would be around Rs 6,800 crores. We saved around Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore in this project as the final tender received by the Ministry of approximately was Rs 11,000 crore,” said Gadkari.
Noting that the government is working on six important projects in Jammu and Kashmir, Gadkari further said, “We are constructing a 32-km tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir as well as 20 km tunnel in Ladakh and Leh that include Zojila.”
Zojila tunnel is quite significant in nature and will help to keep Ladakh connected for the whole year with the rest of the country. The tunnel will also boost the tourism sector of both Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir and keep the hassle-free movement of the armed forces during any weather conditions.
Located on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway, the Zojila tunnel is envisaged to provide all-weather connectivity to Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.