The double-tube four-lane Banihal-Qazigund tunnel constructed alongside the national highway of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir is now ready and will soon be operational. The project officials have conducted a maiden 24-hour trial run of vehicular traffic via the tunnel which turned out to be successful.
Banihal-Qazigund tunnel is 8.5 km long and was built at a cost of Rs 2,100 crore in over a decade. Now, the tunnel work has been completed and several tests will be run along with commissioning processes. It is likely that the tunnel will be operational in July 2021, as per reports.
The work was started in June 2011 by Navyug Engineering Company with an aim to reduce the road distance between Banihal (Jammu) and Qazigund (Kashmir) by 16 km. The tunnel has been made on the build operate and transfer base system along with an exhaust system that will ensure removal of gas and pump in fresh air. Moreover, the tunnel boasts of 234 CCTV modern cameras, 126 Jet fans, along with a firefighting system that has been installed in both tubes of the tunnel.