Centre steers clears ₹2,378-cr tunnel project

In an attempt to speed up the 6.5 km long Z-Morh tunnel in J&K, a concession agreement was recently signed for completing the project on fast tracked basis. Secretary Road Transport & Highways, Sanjiv Ranjan, said, that the project includes construction, operation and maintenance of the tunnel with approaches on NH-1 at Srinagar-Sonmarg-Gumri Road from 61 km to 89.30 km on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) Annuity basis. The 2-lane bi-directional tunnel with parallel escape tunnel will be completed in 3.5 years at a cost of ₹2378.76 crore. Bids for the project were re-invited on 24.06.2019 with a TPC of ₹2378.76 cr on BOT (Annuity) basis. Four bids were received, and were opened on 29.08.2019. After receiving necessary administrative approval and financial sanction, the project award was sanctioned by the Ministry on 17.12.2019. The LoA for the project was subsequently issued on 19.12.2019 to the M/s APCO Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., he added.