India’s Border Road Organisation (BRO) conducted final “break through blast” to mark the successful completion of excavation work of the Nechiphu Tunnel, in Arunachal Pradesh. Started in October 2020 , this project is not only strategically,also important for the development and population in surrounding area. Director General of BRO Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry conducted it remotely from New Delhi on 22 May 2022.
The Nechiphu Tunnel, at an altitude of 5,700 feet, is a unique 500-metre-long ‘D-shaped, Single Tube Double Lane Tunnel’ on the Balipara-Chariduar-Tawang (BCT) Road in West Kameng District of arunachal Pradesh. The tunnel will accommodate two-way traffic and will be equipped with modern lighting and safety facilities. The tunnel has been conceived to bypass extreme foggy conditions prevailing around Nechiphu Pass which have caused hindrance to general traffic and military convoys since decades.
According to the Defence Ministry’s press release ,Nechiphu tunnel will be provided with a state-of-the-art electro-mechanical system including fire fighting devices, auto illumination system and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) controlled monitoring systems. The tunnel will also accommodate raised footpaths on both sides for safer pedestrian movement which will have ducts for power cables, optical fibre cables and utility lines to strengthen the civic amenities infrastructure.
In tandem with the Nechiphu Tunnel project, the Project Vartak of BRO has also completed the excavation work on another strategic tunnel, the Twin Tube (1,555 meter and 980 meter) “Sela Tunnel Project” on the same road, on January 22, 2022. Today’s blast thus marks the cumulative excavation of more than 4,500 meters, achieved by BRO Karma Yogis in less than two years.
Once in service, the Nechiphu Tunnel along with the Sela Tunnel will provide safe, all weather strategic connectivity on the BCT Road while reducing the carbon footprint in this eco-sensitive area. The ongoing tunnel construction is being accomplished by cutting through fragile and highly fractured rock strata. The attendant challenges are being tackled on a daily basis through strict 3D monitoring and through proactive application of desired tunnel support systems in accordance with the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).
The BRO has taken up tunnelling in a big way with successful completion of High Altitude and Mountainous tunnels, in addition to the Atal Tunnel, Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh and the Chamba Tunnel in Uttarakhand. The organisation has also embarked on construction of a series of small tunnels, which it will construct with manpower resources integral to the organisation.
