The work on Jammu and Kashmir's Zojila Tunnel, which will provide all-weather connectivity between the Ladakh region and the rest of the country, is now 70 per cent completed, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told Parliament Thursday ( 27 March 2025).
- The 13-kilometre-long tunnel, set for completion by 2026, will become the longest in Asia and will be located in a sub-zero temperature zone.
- Mr Gadkari, speaking in Lok Sabha, said that initially, the tunnel was estimated to be constructed for over Rs 12,000 crore, but it will be completed at just around Rs 5,500 crore.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Zojilla tunnel in 2018.
- It is a 7.57 m high horseshoe-shaped single-tube, 2-lane tunnel and will pass under the Zojila Pass in the Himalayas between Ganderbal in Kashmir and Drass in the Kargil district of Ladakh.