The 6.4-kilometer Z-Morh tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ganderbal district was officially opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The Sonamarg tourist destination will be open all year. Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attended the prime minister for the inaugural ceremony.
The construction of the two-lane, bi-directional road tunnel between Gagangir and Sonamarg in the central Kashmiri district of Ganderbal cost more than Rs 2,700 crore. For emergencies, it has a parallel escape path that is 7.5 meters wide. The tunnel, which is more than 8,650 feet above sea level, will enhance all-weather connection between Srinagar and Sonamarg on the way to Leh by avoiding avalanche and landslide paths.
The Z-Morh tunnel, which cuts down on the previously 30 km/h speed limit on the curving roadways. Now, vehicles can now reach speeds of up to 70 km/h between Srinagar and Sonamarg . One thousand vehicles can pass through the tunnel in an hour. The New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) was used to construct the tunnel. The Z-Morh Tunnel is a 10-meter-wide, two-lane, bi-directional road construction.
Due to Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), the original concessionaire for carrying out the project, halted work in 2018 owing to financial hardship, the project took nearly ten years to complete. APCO Infratech, the lowest bidder, won the project in January 2020 after it was retendered in 2019.
In October 2012, then-UPA II government Surface Transport Minister CP Joshi placed the project’s foundation stone in front of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, then-cabinet colleague Farooq Abdullah, and then-Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. At first, it was anticipated that the tunnel would be finished between 2016 and 2017.
