MEIL completes 5-km tunnelling work on Zojila project

Hyderabad, Jan 16: Infrastructure major, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL), has achieved a milestone of completing 5-km tunnelling work as part of the 18-km all-weather Zojila Tunnel in a record time of 14 months, the company said Sunday.

The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd’s project being executed by the MEIL is envisaged to ensure connectivity between Srinagar and Ladakh throughout the year without any interruption.

It said that the Zojilla Tunnels – Nilgrar 1, 2, and Zojila main tunnel – are being expeditiously executed despite unfavourable weather conditions like snowfall and blizzard at an altitude of 11575 feet above sea level.

Zojila project, Asia’s longest bidirectional tunnel, is a challenging development project for strategic reasons.

Zojila Tunnel Project Head, Harpal Singh said, “Our MEIL team has executed this project in toughest conditions with dedication and hard work.”

The current winter witnessed the highest-ever snowfall in the history of J&K with temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius.

The project consists of three tunnels, four bridges, snow protection structures, culverts, catch dam, deflector dam, cut and cover tunnel, and many such engineering feats.

“Union Minister for Road and Transport Nitin Gadkari had lauded the efforts of the MEIL in executing the project at a fast pace during his earlier visit. The minister had said that this project would improve socio-economic conditions, transport, and tourism of J&K and Ladakh,” MEIL said.