Zojila tunnel: Nitin Gadkari wants project to be completed before 2024 Lok Sabha polls
The Zojila tunnel will be the world's highest tunnel. While the height of the tunnel from the surface is 11,575 feet, the length is 14.5 km.
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday (September 28, 2021) reviewed the ongoing construction work of the 13.5-km long Zojila tunnel. He gave a new target to the Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd (MEIL), which bagged the project in October 2020, to complete it by December 2023, three years earlier than the original deadline of September 2026.
Nitin Gadkari sets new deadline
Zojila tunnel will be world's highest and Asia's longest
It is situated on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway
Height of Zojila tunnel from surface is 11,575 ft, while length is 14.5 km
Total cost of the project would be around Rs 6,800 crores
Zojila tunnel will boost the tourism sector
Road from Srinagar to Leh remains open for only five months
Currently, the road from Srinagar to Leh is not open all year round as it is not suitable for vehicular movement. Connectivity is limited to only five months in a year owing to extreme snowfall during winters.
The existing Srinagar-Ladakh highway remains closed from mid-November to April and cuts off the entire region from the rest of the world.