Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

As the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari pressed a button and a portion of the rock cave in, it was not only removal of the last bottleneck in a road, but collapse of a wallthat nature had erected between Kashmir and Ladakh distancing their people, hampering trade and development.

With this tunnel at Zoji La (Zojila) getting through Ladakh reached a step closer to all-weather road connectivity with Kashmir and rest of the country.

The 13-km tunnel constructed below the high peak Zojila Pass, about 100 kms from here, on the Srinagar-Leh highway, apart from facilitating round the year traffic movement, would reduce the time on the stretch from over three hours to over 15 minutes.

Interestingly, people from other side of Ladakh -Gilgit Baltistan, seemed excited about the move. Senge Sering a Balti activists living in exile in the US posted this on X:

Three hours travel time cut to 10 minutes
Congratulations to the people of Ladakh
ངའི་ཕྱོགས་ནས་ལ་དྭགས་པ་ཚང་མ་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ་ pic.twitter.com/kmEZ80OC07

— senge sering (@SeringSenge) June 9, 2026

The tunnel connects Baltal near Sonmarg in Ganderbal district of Kashmir valley with Minimrg in Drass area of Kargil in Ladakh region.

This completed the excavation of the 13.153-kilometer Zojila Tunnel beneath the treacherous Zojila Pass at 11,578 feet, connecting Kashmir Valley to Ladakh on National Highway 1.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah joined Gadkari to celebrate with the workers who braved freezing temperatures and low oxygen. The tunnel will cut travel time from over three hours to 15 minutes, provide year-round access amid heavy snow, and enhance army mobility, tourism, and trade near borders with Pakistan and China.

Full operations are set for 2028 at a cost of ₹6,800 crore.

The 400 kms long strategic Srinagar-Leh highway is an important surface link to the border region from Defence point of view. The region remains cut off from the rest of the country through road surface for over four month every winter due to heavy accumulation of snow on the Zojila Pass.

The tunnel is an engineer marvel as one of the companies involved in its work said on X:

MEIL Group Creates History in the Himalayas! 🇮🇳

The 13.153 km Zojila Tunnel has achieved a major breakthrough, becoming the world's longest single-tube bi-directional tunnel at the highest altitude of 11,578 feet. The tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar… pic.twitter.com/Iei82OWjn0

— Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (@MEIL_Group) June 9, 2026

To overcome the logistics of the Defence forces and the population of the region all stocks are supplied well in advance to suffice the needs of the region for the winter months. Once vehicular traffic to the region through the tunnel starts moving round the year it would make things easy for the Defece forces and open the doors for trade, tourism and employment for the people of the area.

Gadkari called it a historic day in India's infrastructure building journey, as he along with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and LG Manor Sinha traveled from Meenamarg (Ladakh) side in the tunnel:

📍जोजिला सुरंग पूर्वी पोर्टल, मीनामार्ग (कारगिल), लदाख

🇮🇳 भारत के 🛣️ इन्फ्रास्ट्रक्चर विकास के इतिहास में ऐतिहासिक दिन!

एशिया की सबसे लंबी सुरंग 'जोजिला टनल' परियोजना आज एक ऐतिहासिक क्षण की साक्षी बनी है। जोजिला के मुख्य सुरंग में आज जम्मू और कश्मीर केंद्र शासित प्रदेश के… pic.twitter.com/LuobDXNGIa

— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) June 9, 2026

The foundation stone of the Rs 6809 cr project was laid in 2018 while the construction work under highly challenging circumstances have been going on for the past five years. The breakthrough or ‘handshake’ marked the completion of excavation work and the projects is scheduled to be completed by 2028.

The work on the project at an altitude of 11578 ft (or 2900 to 3200 meters) above the sea level, the highest road tunnel in the world, has been challenging due to extremely low temperatures of upto 30 to 40 degrees minus for winter months, water accumulation in the tunnel and difficult geological conditions. The work, according to the officials was being suspended for few months every winter due to the freezing temperatures.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with workers inside the Zojila Tunnel

Zojila tunnel is the second and major portion of the Zojila-Z Morh tunnel projects initiated by the Central Government in 2018. The first portion of the project has been a 6.5 kms long Z Morh tunnel making an all-weather connectivity to Sonmarg tourist resort. The project comprising additional 6 kms roads on either sides, Sonmarg and Gagangeer, completed at a cost of Rs 2700 cr was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on January 13, 2025.

This project will ease the life of the people living in Ladakh, who would otherwise remain cut off from rest of the Indian through a road link. They would not longer be forced to fly out at a heavy cost. Beside the trade and tourism will also flourish.

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Gadkari has announced his plans to convert the strech between Drass and Meenamarg (Also called Minimarg) into India's Davos (Winter resort). The rail connectivity to Ladakh is also on the cards.