Within a week of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet clearing the key Shinkun La tunnel to link Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has shown speed and invited bids for the project on Thursday. The BRO has said the project will cost Rs 1,504 crore and a four-year timeline has been fixed for completion.
This strategic project will comprise uni-directional two-lane twin tunnels of 4.1 km length (total length 8.2 km) plus cross passages of 400 meter and an approach road of nearly 2.4 km that will together provide an all-weather road across Shinkun La. It will link National Highway 03 and Zanskar Valley on the Darcha-Padam road (NH-301). Darcha is a small village on the Manali- Leh highway about 25 km from Keylong, the district headquarter of Lahul & Spiti. Padam is the district headquarter of Zanskar, Ladakh.
The project is crucial as it will allow all-weather connectivity to the UT of Ladakh for the movement of troops, arms and ammunition at a time when tensions have been raging with China since 2020. The Shinkun La tunnel will be the shortest route to the border areas of Ladakh. The Hindustan Times had reported last week that this road is crucial as it is sheltered from both Pakistani and Chinese long range artillery/missile firing unlike the Srinagar-Kargil highway near LOC and Manali-Leh highway near the LAC.
A senior government official told News18 that while BRO has specified a timeline of four years in their bid document, the effort will be to expedite the project to complete it by 2025 as per the announcement made after the Cabinet last week. The project is crucial for the fast deployment of forces in case of an emergency at the LAC or the LoC and hence, BRO has been handed over the job to build the tunnel on priority.
Features of the Tunnel
The tunnel will be equipped with various safety installations like emergency stations and water supply shall be provided at least at every 150m. Other facilities include road signage and traffic signals, public announcement system, CCTVs and control centre with 24×7 monitoring, emergency power supply, traffic management and patrol teams, and a tunnel longitudinal ventilation system.
Two tubes with unidirectional traffic for the tunnel are being chosen as the design against a single tube solution with bi-directional traffic as unidirectional traffic reduces the risk of accidents. Unidirectional traffic is also favourable for the operation of the ventilation system because the piston effect supports the jet fans in maintaining proper air speed. The ventilation system is being designed as longitudinal ventilation.
The second tube will be an escape route and access route for emergency services and in case of damages caused by accidents or man-induced incidents like sabotage in one tube, as the remaining tube will be fully operational. This is an important issue for a strategic connection like the one between Manali-Leh.
The Larger Picture
NH-3 is the national highway between Atari, adjacent to India-Pakistan border in Punjab and Leh in Ladakh, via Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Part of this highway crosses some high elevation mountain passes which make it non-motorable beyond Manali for a significant duration of the year, blocked by heavy snowfall and avalanches.
It is envisaged that to serve the national interest, NH-3 should be improved to an all-weather motorable road. In this regard, BRO has already completed the Rohtang Pass tunnel and DPR work for Baralachala Pass. The completion of the Shinkun La tunnel will make an important progress towards this goal of NH-3 being an-weather road.
Zanskar is the southern part of Ladakh sub-district of Kargil with its administrative centre in Padam that has a population of about 15,000. Road connection to Padam is challenging and the only motorable road is via Kargil, which was opened in the 1980s. It takes two days to reach Padam from Leh or Srinagar.
From the Manali side, there used to be a tracking trail from Darcha to Padam via Shinkun La before BRO started converting it to a motorable road. The connection from Darcha to Padam provides a shorter commute to Padam and is an alternative route to Kargil. Once ready from Padam to Nimo, it will be an alternative route to Manali-Leh too.
BRO opened the road between Darcha and Padam in 2019 for civil use with portions of metalled and unmetalled road but only a 4×4 vehicle in good weather and support of BRO team can safely reach from one point to another. Once all the unsealed stretches of BRO road are constructed and maintained, it would be motorable by all types of vehicles. The road remains unusable due to heavy snow at Shinkun La pass from October to June. BRO has to clear the snow on both sides to make the pass accessible between July and September.
Change in Plan
The Shinkun La project was first proposed as a 13.5-km-long tunnel in 2020 by National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) as the most feasible solution since it provides the highest possibility of all-weather connectivity.
The BRO suggested a shorter 4.25-km-long tunnel. The Defence Ministry had turned down the 13.5-km-long tunnel option considering the road — including the tunnel — was to be completed within the shortest time possible, like three to four years.
The BRO option of a shorter tunnel showed the possibility of completing faster in comparison to the 13.5-km option and the completion time remained the top-most priority. The Defence Ministry subsequently transferred the Shinkun La tunnel work from NHIDCL to the BRO.
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