Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for Asia’s longest bi-directional road tunnel at Zojila Pass on Srinagar-Kargil section of NH-1. The foundation stone laying ceremony will be performed on 19 May 2018 at Jive-tsal, Leh, Jammu and Kashmir.
The 14.2 km tunnel project in India will connect Ladakh with Srinagar. It will be a two-lane bi-directional tunnel with a parallel escape tunnel. Once the Zojila tunnel project is completed it will reduce travel time from 3.5 hours to mere 15 minutes.
The tunnel at an altitude of 11,578 ft on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway is proposed to be constructed at the cost of Rs 4,899 crore. The project will take seven years to complete.
The National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) had floated the tender and IL&FS Transportation Networks had bagged the project in January 2018 for construction of a road project.