The Central government is planning to cut short the distance between Chandigarh and Leh by about three hours. This will be made possible through a different alignment on the route.

The 310 km Chandigarh-Manali stretch will be reduced by around 30 km, particularly between Kiratpur in Punjab and Ner Chowk in Himachal Pradesh, as five tunnels will be constructed on this stretch.

While the Chandigarh-Manali section will be executed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the 475 km Manali-Leh stretch, with nine new tunnels, falls under the Border Roads Organisation.

Construction cost of the Chandigarh-Manali section is expected to be Rs 2,600 crore. The Manali-Leh section is likely to cost significantly more as the terrain is tougher.

The Chandigarh-Manali section is being executed on engineering, procurement and construction basis. It will become functional in another three years.