MORTH and IL&FS sign MoU for construction of all weather Zojila tunnel in J&K
New Delhi, Jan 25 (IBNS): National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) under the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, and IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for construction of the 14.150 km long, two-lane bi-directional Zojila Tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir.
The MoU was signed on Wednesday according to a release from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
According to the release, this will be India’s longest road tunnel and the longest bi-directional tunnel in Asia.
The construction of this tunnel will provide all weather connectivity between Srinagar, Kargil and Leh and will bring about all round economic and socio-cultural integration of these regions.
The project aims to construct a 14.150 km long two lane bidirectional single tube tunnel with a parallel 14.200 km long egress tunnel between Baltaland Minamarg in J&K.
The total capital cost of the project is Rs 6808.69 crore.
It includes the cost towards land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities as well as maintenance and operation cost of the tunnel for four years.
The civil construction cost of the project is Rs 4899.42 crore.
The construction period of the project is seven years which shall be reckoned from the date of commencement of construction.
The tunnel will be an engineering marvel, a first of its kind in such geographical area. It will have all modern technical safety arrangements such as cut and cross ventilation system, two axial fans,, fully transverse ventilation system, uninterrupted power supply, CCTV monitoring, variable messaging boards, traffic logging equipment , tunnel radio, emergency telephone system etc.
The main objective of the project is to provide all weather connectivity to the strategically important Leh region in J&K, which at the moment is limited to at best 6 months in a year because of snow on the passes and threat of avalanches.
This project, along with other ongoing projects like 6.5 km long Z-Morh tunnel at Gagangir is expected to ensure safe, fast and cheap connectivity between Kashmir and Ladakh.
Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation urged the construction company to make efforts to complete the project faster than the seven years assigned for it so that its benefits can reach the people of the region at the earliest.
He also urged the company to explore whether it is technically feasible to lay railway tracks in the tunnel along with the road.
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