Rohtang tunnel will be completed by 2014: Dhumal

DHARAMSALA - The Rohtang tunnel located beneath the majestic Rohtang Pass in Kullu district will be completed by 2014, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said Monday.

“The work on the Rohtang tunnel would start soon and it would be completed by 2014,” Dhumal told the state assembly.

He said the tunnel would not only provide an all-weather alternative road connectivity to the state’s tribal Lahaul and Spiti district and but also to Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir.

The nine-kilometer tunnel, the foundation for which was laid by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, will reduce the distance between Manali and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir by 40 km, which is otherwise 475 km.

At present, due to heavy snowfall at the Rohtang Pass (13,050 feet), the road connectivity for Lahaul and Spiti and Leh from Himachal Pradesh remains disrupted for more than four months during winter.

The horseshoe shaped tunnel, some 300 km from Shimla, will be burrowed below the Rohtang Pass so that it avoids the heavy snow. It is estimated to cost around Rs.1,500 crore ($3.2 billion).

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will construct the tunnel.