The Centre has paved way for constructing the strategically significant Zojila pass tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir to provide all-weather connectivity with Srinagar, Kargil and Leh that remain disconnected from the rest part of world during extreme snowfall. "The main objective of the project is to provide allweather connectivity to strategically important Leh region in Jammu and Kashmir," said a senior transport ministry official. The tunnel will be a bidirectional single tube tunnel with a parallel escape (egress) tunnel approaching on Srinagar-Leh section. The civil construction cost of the project is `4,899.42 crore while the total capital cost of the project is `6,808.69 crore. The project aims at construction of 14.15-km-long two- lane bi-directional single tube tunnel with a parallel 14.2-km-long egress tunnel excluding approaches between Baltal and Minamarg in the state.

Source: India Today January 04, 2018 03:22 UTC