BRO Unveils Major Infrastructure Projects, Including 298 km Road and Zanskar Tunnel, Enhancing Connectivity to Leh

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built a 298 km road--the Nimu-Padam-Darcha road-- as the third alternative from Manali to Leh and the shortest avenue to reach Leh and has started work on a tunnel on the Zanskar range that will provide a clean route to Limu through the Zanskar valley, according to BRO DG Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan.

''There is only one major pass that we have to cross which remains snowbound throughout the year. And as of last year, we had begun work on the Shinkunla Pass, the first blast was done by the Prime Minister himself. We have started work on both portals, so you’ll have a tunnel on the Zanskar Range. Once that happens, you have a clean route all the way to Nimu—30 kilometres from Leh—through the Zanskar Valley,'' he said in an interview.

He said the BRO is also on track to completing by the end of next year. Then there will be a double-lane road of 298 km. From Manali, instead of the normal route through Upshi, the Shinkunla Tunnel which will come up in about four years.

''Leh is strategically vital and in so many ways important for the country, so we need all-weather, shorter connectivity. The third route is a game-changer,'' Lt Gen Srinivasan said adding that the BRO is also considering a fourth route through Taklingla and is building Taklingla tunnel which will join eastern Ladakh directly with Himachal Pradesh.

Lt Gen Srinivasan said the government sees border infrastructure sustaining two pillars: security—to reach and sustain forces (roads, bridges, tunnels, airfields)—and with it economic prosperity. Werever BRO builds roads, economic activity and tourism take root. He said thart in places like Leh, Spiti, Joshimath and Mana, traditionally people living over there would come down during the winters. Now a system of reverse migration is happening and people are willing to stay.

To a question on how the BRO is matching China's border infrastructure, he said China is building in the Tibet Autonomous Region which is a flat tableland. ''They don’t have the ascent, deep valley gorges which are normal in the Himalayan region. The Chinese area is in rain shadow. Our border is on the watershed, which by definition means that no moisture is able to cross it. The amount of rainfall and the amount of snow which takes place in Tibet is negligible. It is a desert after all. Building over there is a little easier.''

He said BRO brings the best technology from Nagpur, Delhi, Chennai to the borders—rock-cutting, excavation, surfacing of the roads. BRO engages contractors to enhance capacity. Moreover, BRO is empowered by the government for larger contracts. The Ministry of Defence is pushing it. Contractors bring better machinery and technology to get the work done over there. The catch-up is just a question of time. In about three, four or five years, we would have achieved the levels we need to be.

Describing infrastructure as the game-changer for all border states—Arunachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, he said BRO employs 70,000–80,000 local people annually. ''The government empowers us to hire local labour; there’s symbiosis—we cannot work without them. They are hardworking, they work year-round in the most difficult areas, take the same risks, and know the terrain. Each one of the border states has understood the economic opportunity, the upscaling that happens with road infrastructure.''

To a question on the Indo-Myanmar border and in the Left-Wing Extremism-affected areas of Chhattisgarh, he said BRO was tasked to build the entire 1300 km fence over 10 years. He said the BRO hoped to complete over 35 km in the working period in Manipur this season and plan to start work in Arunachal. On the issue of left-Wing Extremism he said the BRO was asked to connect various company operating bases which were set up by the security forces in Chhattisgarh. Initially, BRO had to build 40 km of road

Lt Gen Srinivasan said that by 2026, they hope to have made substantial progress on the Shinkun La Tunnel and complete the first year of work on the Arunachal Frontier Highway. We will have connected more passes in Uttarakhand.