Z-Morh tunnel on Srinagar-Leh highway to be inaugurated next month: Nitin Gadkari

New Delhi, March 28

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The 6.5 km-long Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Leh highway will be inaugurated next month while work on Asia’s longest tunnel at Zojila is likely to be completed in 2024, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.

Addressing Assocham’s Annual Day 2023, Gadkari further said that his ministry is also building 9 tunnels between Jammu and Srinagar.

“We are constructing the Z-Morh tunnel in Sonmarg. The tunnel will be inaugurated in April,” he said.

The 6.5 km-long Z-Morh tunnel between Gagangir and Sonamarg on the Srinagar-Leh highway will provide connectivity round-the-year.

“We are also building Asia’s longest tunnel at Zojila. 65-70 per cent of work on the Zojila tunnel has been completed and it will be inaugurated in 2024,” the road transport and highways minister said.

The 13.5-km-long Zojila tunnel, being built for Rs 4,900 crore, when ready, will play a key role in making the road (NH1) connecting Srinagar with Leh an all-weather one.

The original deadline for the 11,000-foot high project is December 2026.

At present, the road remains closed for vehicular traffic after the winter sets in, as the area sees heavy snowfall.

The minister also emphasised the need of reducing India’s logistics cost from 16 per cent to 9 per cent of the GDP by the end of 2024.

He pointed out that while the logistics cost in China is 8 per cent, the logistics cost in the US and European Union is 12 per cent.

“If we can reduce our logistics cost to 9 per cent from, currently, 16 per cent, then our exports will increase by 1.5 times,” Gadkari noted.

Talking about other national highway projects, Gadkari said after the completion of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, people can travel between Delhi and Mumbai in just 12 hours; Nagpur and Mumbai in 5 hours; and Nagpur and Pune in 6 hours.

“This will help reduce the logistics cost,” he said.

On saving fuel costs by focusing on alternative fuel, Gadkari said the government’s focus should be on converting waste to wealth.

For example, he said Delhi has three mountains of solid waste, and within the next two years, this waste will be used in road construction.