ITANAGAR: In a significant boost to the government’s efforts towards establishing road connectivity along the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh, the strategic Sela Tunnel in West Kameng district is set to be officially inaugurated on March 9.
Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the tunnel.
Speaking at a gathering during the Nyokum Yullo celebrations in New Pitapool, Yachuli Circle, on February 26, Deputy Chief Minister Mein said that once opened, the tunnel will be the world’s longest bi-lane tunnel at 13,000 feet elevation.
Mein also assured the people that various projects, including the Frontier Highway, Vibrant Village Programme, Border Village Illumination Programme, among others, are currently being implemented to develop the border areas.
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Upon completion, the Sela Tunnel will provide a safer route compared to the snow-covered areas, significantly reducing travel time between Assam’s Tezpur and Tawang by over an hour, thus bypassing the unsafe 13,700-foot-high Sela Pass.
The Sela Tunnel complex comprises two tunnels – Tunnel 1, a 980-meter-long single tube tunnel, and Tunnel 2, a 1,555-meter-long twin tube tunnel.
The latter is equipped with one traffic lane and an escape tunnel for emergency situations.
Ensuring road connectivity to the LAC, amidst China’s growing infrastructural spree along the border, is a key issue which the Centre and state government have been trying to address with various schemes.
Earlier, on February 13, following the allocation of Rs 3,890.45 crore for enhancing connectivity in the Northeast, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, announced a collective sanctioning of Rs 4,502.93 crore for projects in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and Mizoram.
Among the three states, Arunachal Pradesh emerged as the primary beneficiary, securing Rs 2,378.72 crore for the construction of two crucial sections of the frontier highway spanning a total length of 93 km.
