"We will prepare a fresh Detailed Project Report for the tunnel and once the study is completed, we will take up its construction with the Union Government," said Minister for Roads and Buildings (R&B), Syed Altaf Bukhari according to local media.
Construction of the tunnel has been handed over to National Highway Authority of India, and as a result, the state government was been asked to prepare the fresh DPR. Earlier the military’s Border Road Organization (BRO) was tasked with constructing the tunnel.
"The tunnel at Ahlan in Vialoo area of Kokernag would bypass treacherous stretch on road that remains buried under snow during winter and we can have traffic on the road round-the-year. Besides, it would also reduce distance between Daksum (Kokernag) in Anantnag and Chatroo in Kishtwar," said an spokesman for the R&B department. "The proposal for the tunnel, estimated at INR 4bn (USD 62M), was actually mooted in 2010 and the project was initially to be executed as a PPP, with J&K Bank as the funding agency.
"The entire project was targeted for completion in 18 months," he said. "However the project was later shelved for unknown reasons."
