Security beefed up at Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel before inauguration by PM Modi
Srinagar, J&K: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir to participate in the celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day on Sunday. During his visit, PM Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development initiatives worth around Rs 20,000 crore.
Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel is among the projects that will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister during his visit to the Union Territory. It has been built at a cost of over Rs 3100 crore.
Besides, PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of three road packages of the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, being built at a cost of over Rs. 7500 crore.
“They are for the construction of a 4/6 lane access controlled Delhi-Katra-Amritsar Expressway from Balsua on NH-44 to Gurha Baildaran, Hiranagar; Gurha Baildaran, Hiranagar to Jakh, Vijaypur; and Jakh, Vijaypur to Kunjwani, Jammu with spur connectivity to Jammu Airport,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a release.
Facts About The Tunnel
- The 8.45 Km long tunnel would reduce the road distance between Banihal and Qazigund by 16 km, and reduce journey time by around one and a half hours.
- It is a twin-tube tunnel – one for each direction of travel – with the twin tubes being interconnected by a cross passage every 500m, for maintenance and emergency evacuation.
- The tunnel would help establish an all-weather connection between Jammu and Kashmir and bring the two regions closer.
- The objective of this project was to facilitate an all-weather route for the traffic in the Union Territory, which would otherwise get obstructed due to snowfall and landslides in the winters.
- The tunnel has been built at 5,800 feet above sea level and it will replace the Jawahar tunnel as an all-weather and round-the-clock traffic option.
- The Banihal Qazigund tunnel has been made on Build–Operate–Transfer (BOT) basis. The BOT is a form of project delivery method, usually for large-scale infrastructure projects, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the public sector (or the private sector on rare occasions) to finance, design, construct, own, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract.
- This public-private partnership enables the project proponent to recover its investment, operating, and maintenance expenses in the project.