Construction work on 2 tunnels on Pathankot-Mandi road completed

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, May 2

In a major breakthrough, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has completed the construction of two double-lane tunnels in the first phase of Pathankot- Mandi four lane project near Kotla. These two tunnels have been constructed between Trilokpur and Kotala amid high mountains.

Vikas Surjewala Project Director, NHAI, said the first tunnel with a length of 700 m will bypass Kotla town while the second tunnel will bypass Hanuman stretch of the old highway which was prone to large-scale landslides during monsoon. He termed it a major achievement of the NHAI and hoped for early completion of one of the most important projects of the NHAI linking Pathankot with Leh and other forward areas.

He said Gurugram-based Gabber Construction Company was assigned the job of constructing both the tunnels. The company did a remarkable job completing the tunnel work well before the deadline. The total cost of this phase has been estimated at Rs 523 crore, including the cost of the tunnels.

He said the finishing work and concreting work was in progress. With the construction of both the tunnels the distance of the highway in this stretch had been reduced by nine kms.

The 219-km Pathankot- Mandi road is one of strategic road projects of the Government of India, which links Pathankot with Leh, Ladakh and other forward areas. Considering the defence requirements, the Centre wants to complete it at the earliest.

Surjewala said the DPR prepared by Joint Ventures and Infrastructure Casta Limited, a private company, in 2016 would remain the same in the first 154-km section of highway and would only be amended in the last 65 km falling in Mandi district to avoid the cutting of hills as the area had difficult topography with high mountains. The NHAI had laid special stress on minimum cutting of hills, avoiding inconvenience to people residing along the highway and avoiding dislocation of business establishments.