Arunachal’s Nechiphu Tunnel excavation work complete; will help in rapid movement of troops, weapons to LAC

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, May 20

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on Friday completed the final excavation work of Nechiphu Tunnel on the strategically vital Tezpur-Tawang road in Arunachal Pradesh. This come just months after the BRO completed the excavation of ‘Sela tunnel’ on the same route.

The two upcoming tunnels are part of the effort to rapidly deploy troops and weapons along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. A set of two tunnel under the Sela -- a 13,700-feet high Himalayan massif -- is targeted for opening this summer. The Nechiphu is also been speeded up to be completed before the winter sets in.

The tunnels are coming up on the 329-km Tezpur-Tenga-BomdiLa-Tawang route that leads to the LAC in sensitive sector in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. At present, it takes about 12-14 hours by car to complete the long-winding route and it often gets blocked due to heavy snow for three-four months during winter. Military trucks – with heavy load could take up to two days to do the route.

Nechiphu Tunnel is at an altitude of 5,700 feet and is conceived to bypass extreme foggy conditions prevailing around Nechiphu Pass which caused hindrance to general traffic and military convoys for many decades.

At Sela, the Rs 700-crore project will provide year-round connectivity and shorten the route by 90 minutes. The BRO is making a new alignment that covers a total distance of 12.04 km, which consists of two tunnels of 1,790m and 475m.

Once the tunnel is open, the need for round-the-clock snow clearance and vehicles with chains on tyres will not be needed because the tunnel and its approach roads on both sides are under the snow line. Both tunnels will accommodate two-way traffic and will be equipped with modern lighting and safety facilities.

They have ducts for power cables, optical fibre cables and utility lines.

Construction is being carried out by cutting through fragile and highly fractured rock strata. The challenges are being tackled on daily basis through a 3D monitoring in accordance with the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).

The BRO, a wing under the Ministry of Defence, had made high-altitude and mountainous tunnels like the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang, in Himachal Pradesh and the Chamba Tunnel in Uttarakhand.

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