The contract for civil construction works of 8.802 Km (8802 Mtrs) Rohtang Tunnel to provide all weather road access to Leh (Ladakh) was awarded to M/s Strabag-Afcon (JV) on 24th September, 2009 at a cost of Rs.1458.06 Crore. The total progress of Rohtang tunnel achieved as on 11.12.2011 is 2475 Mtrs in heading and 486.10 Mtrs in benching.
The expenditure involved so far is Rs.568.60 Crore. The advantages of this tunnel are as under :
(i) Round the year connectivity to Lahul & Spiti Valley.
(ii) The distance between Manali and Lahul-Spiti Valley will be reduced by 46 Km.
When completed in 2015, the 8.8 km (5.5 mi) long tunnel is also set to become the world longest tunnel at an altitude between 3,053–3,080 m or 10,020–10,100 ft.[22] The nearest in comparison to the Rohtang Tunnel would be the Anzob Tunnel in Tajikistan (5 kilometres13.1 mi/, altitude 3,372 metres011,063 ft/), Khojak Rail tunnel near Quetta in Pakistan (3.9 km, altitude 3,912m) and the Eisenhower–Johnson Memorial Tunnel in the United States (2.73 kilometres11.70 mi/, altitude 3,401 metres011,158 ft/).
There were proposals of installing a Neutrino detector in the tunnel by Punjab University and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research[23]
The 85 km distance from Manali to Keylong on the other side of Rohtang Pass is usually covered by vehicles in about five to six hours, without counting the long hours of traffic jams on the hilly route. The same distance would now be covered in less than half-an-hour through the tunnel and without traffic snarls. Keylong would be just 25 km from the North Portal of the tunnel.
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