Zoji La Tunnel is an under-construction 9.5 m wide, 7.57 m high and 14.2 km long,

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...

-shaped single-tube, 2 lane road tunnel at the height of 11,575 feet (3,528 m) above sea level which passes under the

Zoji La Zoji La (sometimes Zojila Pass) is a high List of mountain passes#India, mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is in the Government of India, Indian Union territory of Ladakh, Kargil district, Kashmir. Located in the Dras, Drass, the pass connec ...

pass in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

between

Sonmarg Sonamarg () or Sonmarg (), known as Sonamarag (; ) in Kashmiri, is a hill station located in the Ganderbal District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located about 62 Kilometers from Ganderbal Town and northeast of the capital city, Srinagar ...

and

Dras Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...

s town in Kargil district of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n union Territory of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

. Project cost for this smart tunnel (

SCADA Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) is a control system architecture comprising computers, networked data communications and graphical user interfaces for high-level supervision of machines and processes. It also covers sensors and ...

system), constructed with the

New Austrian tunneling method The New Austrian tunneling method (NATM), also known as the sequential excavation method (SEM) or sprayed concrete lining method (SCL), is a method of modern tunnel design and construction employing sophisticated monitoring to optimize various wa ...

and equipped with CCTV, radio control, uninterrupted power supply, ventilation, etc is INR8,308 (~US$1.04 billion) as per 2021 estimates. Together with the adjacent

Z-Morh Tunnel The Z-Morh Tunnel is an under-construction 6.5 km long 2-lane road tunnel between Gagangair and Sonamarg in Ganderbal district of Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It is named after the H ...

, this geostrategically important tunnel on the '' NH1 Srinagar-Leh Highway'' will provide the year around weather-proof connectivity to

(Leh,

LOC LOC, L.O.C., Loc, LoC, or locs may refer to: Places * Lóc, a village in Sângeorgiu de Pădure, Mureș County, Romania * Lócs, a village in Vas county, Hungary * Line of Contact, meeting place of Western and Eastern Allied forces at the e ...

, AGPL &

LAC Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

) and Baltal ( Amarnath cave), reduce the earlier 3.5 hours travel time to just 15 minutes drive, boost the tourism and economy, and enhance the

Indian Military The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by th ...

logistics. It is one of the 31 road tunnels, 20 in J&K and 11 in Ladakh, being constructed at the combined cost of INR1.4 lakh crore (~US$17.5 billion).Everything about Zoji La Tunnel
Telengana Today, 29 Oct 2021.Zojila, Z-Morh tunnels: All you need to know about
Economic Times, 30 Sept 2021.Strategic Zojila tunnel to see defence forces crossing into Ladakh 2 years ahead of deadline
The Hindu, 28 March 2022.

History

Tunnel completion is expected about 5–7 years after commencement of construction in 2018. The tunnel along with 6.5 km long

, (which is 22 km before Zoji La tunnel towards Srinagar) will ensure year-round road connectivity between

Srinagar Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...

and

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in Ja ...

which currently remains closed for about seven months due to heavy snowfall on the Zoji La pass which is situated at an altitude of 3,528 m (11,578 feet) on the Srinagar-Kargil-

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former res ...

highway. Zoji La is 15 km from

Sonamarg Sonamarg () or Sonmarg (), known as Sonamarag (; ) in Kashmiri, is a hill station located in the Ganderbal District The Ganderbal district, or more formally District Ganderdal, is a district in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, I ...

and provides a vital link with

s and Kargil in

but remains closed for 6–7 months (from November to May) during winter due to heavy snow fall & snow avalanches. It takes more than 3 hours to cross the pass but the tunnel will reduce the time. This tunnel was a strategic requirement of the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and the Ladakhi people as the pass is close to the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...

(LOC) and vulnerable to hostile actions. Zoji La was recaptured from Pakistani raiders under Operation Bison. The Zoji La tunnel project was approved by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in January 2018 and the commencement of its construction was inaugurated by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

in May 2018. The tunnel will be built under EPC mode (engineering, procurement, construction) wherein the Government of India will provide the money and the executing agency will do the construction and will later hand over the project to the Government of India. Earlier it was supposed to be built under PPP mode where private player was supposed to make the investment and later recover via toll but despite calling for bids five times since 2013, no bid came for one time and for the rest only a single private player showed interest; thus each time the bid was cancelled.

Features

* Its construction period will be five years because of a very difficult terrain where in some areas the temperature drops to -45 °C. * The project aims at construction of a 14.2 km-long two-lane bi-directional single tube tunnel with a parallel 14.2 km-long egress tunnel. The western portal is at Baltal at about 3,000 m elevation (about 400 m lower than the elevation of the existing highway there), about 15 km east of

. The eastern portal after Zoji La is at Minamarg towards the

/Kargil end. The length of the tunnel does not include the lengths of the approach roads to both ends of the tunnel from the existing highway. * Planned as a smart tunnel, it will have the latest safety features such as a fully transverse ventilation system, an uninterrupted power supply, emergency lighting, CCTV monitoring, variable message signs, traffic logging equipment and a tunnel radio system. * The safety features will include emergency telephones and fire-fighting cabinets every 125 metres, pedestrian cross-passages every 250 metres and motorable cross-passages and lay-bys every 750 metres. * Earlier the civil construction cost of the project was ₹ 6,575.85

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

. Revised cost total capital cost of the project, including 5% annual inflation, is ₹8,308 crore. It includes the cost of land, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities as well as the maintenance and operation cost of the tunnel for four years. *

Defence forces The phrase Defence Force(s) (or Defense Force(s) in US English - see spelling differences) is in the title of the armed forces of certain countries and territories. Defence forces * Ambazonia Defence Forces *Artsakh Defence Army * Australian Defen ...

have to face a hard time ensuring supplies to border posts during winters across Zoji La pass which is most strategic for the entire

sector which has seen intrusion and war in the past. The tunnel will help keep the highway open for the entire year. *Once the tunnel is completed, travel between

and

throughout the year will become possible. The travel time currently between

and Meenamarg is four hours, while it will drastically come down to just 40 minutes after this Asia’s longest bidirectional tunnel is completed.

Status updates

* Oct 2013:

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

approves the road tunnel project. * May 2017: Four private players bid for the ₹10,000 crore project namely

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

(L&T),

IL&FS Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) is an Indian state-funded infrastructure development and finance company. It was created by public sector banks and insurance companies. It operates through more than 250 subsidiaries i ...

, Jaypee Infratech and

Reliance Infrastructure Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra), formerly Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), is an Indian private sector enterprise involved in power generation, infrastructure, construction and defence. It is p ...

. * Jun 2017: Contract to be awarded to the bidders by June end and work to start in August 2017. * Jul 2017: IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd, the firm which developed Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel emerged as the lowest cost bidder for the tunnel. It quoted cost of , and a period of 7 years to construct tunnel. * Jan 2018: Union Cabinet approves tunnel to be built at a cost of including land acquisition cost. Tunnel to be ready in five years. * May 2018: Foundation stone laid by Prime Minister

and work starts. * Mar 2019: The project is to be bid again as earlier developer

has gone bankrupt. * Jun 2020: Fresh bids invited for construction of tunnel. * Aug 2020: MEIL (Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd) emerges as lowest bidder for the tender with quoted price of ₹4509 crores. MEIL will construct the tunnel. * Oct 2020: On 15 October 2020, Minister of Highways,

Nitin Gadkari Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways cur ...

initiated the first blast for the all weather Zoji-la tunnel on NH1. This marked the beginning of the construction of the tunnel. The event was attended by Union Ministers of State

Jitendra Singh Jitendra Singh may refer to: * Jitendra Singh (politician, born 1956), Indian Bharatiya Janata Party politician * Jitendra Singh (politician, born 1971), Indian National Congress politician * Jitendra Singh (BSP) or Jitendra Kumar Bablu Bhaiya, B ...

and

V. K. Singh General Vijay Kumar Singh, (born 10 May 1950) is an Indian politician and a former four-star General in the Indian Army. He is the current Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Civil Aviation in th ...

. The tunnel is expected to be completed by September 2026. *Sep 2021: After an inspection by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, he sets a deadline for the tunnel to be completed by December 2023, much ahead of its original deadline of September 2026. *Nov 2021: Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) completes the excavation work of tunnel 1 of the Zoji-la Tunnel. * September 2022: Total 2.1 km (15%) tunnelling work out of 14.2 km, 1 km from west or Kashmir side and 1.1 km from east or Ladakh side, has been excavated. Tunnelling work, which started in May 2021, is continuing 24x7 with 1000 engineers and labours even during the freezing winter months, consequently tunnel will be completed much earlier (december 2023) than the original deadline of december 2026.

References

{{Reflist Road tunnels in Ladakh Proposed road infrastructure in India Proposed road tunnels in Asia Transport in Kargil district

History

Features

Status updates

See also

References