SHIMLA: Already running four years behind schedule, the border roads organisation (BRO) has set August 15, 2019 as the fresh deadline for completion of the Rohtang tunnel project, aimed at connecting the strategically important areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two portals of the tunnel—the south portal in Dhundhi and the north portal in Sissu nullah—will be connected by July next year. The BRO engineers have already excavated 3.9 km from the south side and 3.6 km from the north side.

“If we don’t face any other challenge, we hope to connect both ends by July next year,” said Brigadier D N Bhat, chief engineer, BRO (Rohtang Tunnel Project).

The BRO has apprised the cabinet subcommittee about the progress in the tunnel being constructed beneath the 13,051 feet high Rohtang pass.

“If things go the way they are right now, all civil works on the tunnel should complete by August 2019,” says Brigadier D N Bhat, chief engineer, BRO (Rohtang Tunnel Project).

The crucial tunnel is being built in collaboration with Strabag-Afcons, a joint venture between India’s Afcons Infrastructure Limited and Austria’s Strabag SE.

The foundation of the dream project—considered to the one of the engineering marvels in the country—was laid on June 28, 2010 by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The project was to be completed in 2015. The delay in the completion of the project is being attributed to the geological hurdles in excavation.