Govt. fixes Rs. 9000 cr Zojila Tunnel on radar

In order to fast track the construction of Rs. 9,000-cr Zojila Tunnel, government has initiated aggressive move to invite global investors to build the project as quickly as possible. In this connection, it is holding a series of road shows to bid for the strategically important project meant to provide all-weather connectivity to Ladakh. Till now, one company-Border Roads Organisation had bid for the project as it is a difficult project from execution point of view due to its location in the most hostile region. Now NHIDCL, a fully-owned company of highways ministry, has been tasked to bid out and manage the mega project. This is first time it is reaching out to the companies with road shows to allay their concerns, said chief of NHIDCL, Anand Kumar, adding that the plan to build this 14 km single tube and two way tunnel was approved by the Cabinet and the companies want the construction period to be increased to 8-9 years against seven years, considering the region's experiences where heavy snowfall often forces the area to remain disconnected from the rest of the country for upto six months. The project will be built under annuity mode to ensure there is no delay in its completion. Designed as one of the modern tunnels with design speed of 80 km/h, this will also have a parallel escape tunnel with cross passage for both pedestrians and vehicles at regular intervals, he added.