Hundreds of workers are racing to finish what officials say will be India's longest and highest tunnel connecting Valley with Ladakh, which shares de facto borders with Pakistan and China.
India is ramping up efforts to build the strategic Zojila tunnel in Indian-administered valley, aiming to reduce travel time to Ladakh, where China is increasingly pushing its territorial claims along the so-called Line of Actual Control (LAC).
India has developed a network of tunnels, bridges and roads in Ladakh to allow for a rapid mobilization of troops in the hostile high-altitude region — where temperatures dip as low as -45 degrees Celsius (-49 F).
The tunnel, the mass infrastructure project's last, will pass through Zojila in Indian-administered valley to Sonamarg, which marks the end of conifer-clad mountains before Ladakh begins across the rocky Zojila mountain pass.
Officials say the Zojila tunnel, expected to cost $932 million (€815 million), will be India’s longest and highest tunnel, at 11,500 feet (3,485 meters).
The tunnel would not only allow the Indian Army more flexibility in handling logistics — it would also reduce the travel time on Zojila Pass from 3.5 hours to 15 minutes.
The horseshoe-shaped, single-tube bidirectional tunnel would also decrease the distance from Baltal to Minamarg from 40 kilometers (25 miles) to 13 kilometers, said P Arun, deputy general manager execution of Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Limited, which is tasked with building the tunnel.
"It is an engineering marvel. It involves great skill, not just blasting mountains," Arun told DW.
The cutoff time for the completion of the tunnel has been reduced by almost three years, to December 2023. Officials said they hoped that the tunnel would open to the public in 2024 on January 25, the eve of India's Republic Day.
The Zojila Pass, which connects valley's capital city, Srinagar, to Ladakh, an Indian union territory that constitutes part of the larger J&K region, is at present accessible about six months per year because of heavy snowing in winter.
After getting S400 air defense system and building this tunnel, India will have a stronger position
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