Construction has begun on India’s strategic 8.8-kilometer-long, $363-million Rohtang Tunnel. Built at an altitude higher than 3,000 meters in the Pir Panjal range of the Himalayas, it will provide an all-weather road link across the snow-capped Rohtang Pass. The tunnel will provide year-round road access to the remote regions of Lahaul-Spiti and Pangi Valley in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Conceived in 1983 and faced with many procedural delays, it is now being constructed by the Border Roads Organization under the Ministry of Defense. BRO awarded the project to a joint venture led by Austria’s Strabag A.G., Vienna, with Mumbai-based Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. The work is to be completed by February 2015. Australia-based SMEC International, Melbourne, has been engaged as a consultant by the BRO.