Zoji La Tunnel is a 14.2 km long road tunnel under Zoji La pass on the Himalayas between Sonmarg and Drass town in Kargil district of the IndianUnion Territory of Ladakh, currently under construction. The tunnel along with 6.5 km long Z-Morh Tunnel, will ensure year-long road connectivity between Srinagar and Kargil 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 on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway. Zoji La is 15 km from Sonamarg and provides a vital link with Drass and Kargil in Ladakh but remains closed for 6-7 months 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 to only 15 minutes. This tunnel was a strategic requirement of the army and the Ladakhi people as the pass is close to LOC and vulnerable to hostile actions by terrorists. Zoji La was re-captured from Pakistani raiders under Operation Bison. The Zoji La tunnel project was approved by the government of India in January 2018 and the commencement of its construction was inaugurated by the prime minister in May 2018. The tunnel will be built under EPC mode wherein Government of India will provide the money and the executing agency will do the construction and will later hand over the project to 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 tax but despite calling for bids five times since 2013, no bid came for one time and for rest only single private player showed interest thus each time bid was cancelled.
Features
The Zoji La tunnel will be the longest bi-directional road tunnel in Asia. Its construction period will be five years because of a very difficult terrain where in some areas the temperature drops to minus 45 degree Celsius.
The project aims at construction of 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 altitude, about 15 km east of Sonmarg. The eastern portal after Zoji La is at Minamarg towards the Dras / 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.
The safety features will include emergency telephones and fire-fighting cabinets at every 125 metre, pedestrian cross-passages at every 250 metre and motorable cross passages and lay-bye at every 750 metre.
The civil construction cost of the project is Rs.49 billion. The total capital cost of the project is Rs.68 billion. It includes the cost of land, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities as well as maintenance and operation cost of the tunnel for four years.
Defense forces have to face a hard time ensuring supplies to border posts during winters across Zoji La pass which is most strategic for the entire Kargil sector which has seen intrusion and war in the past. The tunnel will help keep the highway open the entire year.
Project timelines
October 2013: Cabinet approves the road tunnel project.
May 2017: Four private players bid for the 10,000 Crore Indian Rupees project namely L&T, ILFS, Jaypee Infratech and Reliance Infra.
June 2017: Contract to be awarded to the bidders by June end and work to start in August 2017.
July 2017: IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd, the firm which developed Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Tunnel emerged as lowest cost bidder for the tunnel. It quoted cost of, and a period of 7 years to construct tunnel.
January 2018: Union Cabinet approves Asia's largest 14.2 km bi-directional tunnel to be build at cost of including land acquisition cost. Tunnel to be ready in five years.
