Foundation stone laid for Double lane tunnel

Shimla, Apr 17 (UNI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, today launched the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for the development of Capital, by laying the foundation stones of double-lane motorable tunnel.

The Chief Minister announced that two-way tunnel would cost of Rs. 8.25 crore. A bridge over Snowdon Nallah to be constructed at cost of Rs. 2.75 crore and four-storeyed parking complex for 250 light vehicles on Snowdon Nallah is estimated to be constructed at a cost of Rs. 11 crore.

The Chief Minister said that all the projects would be completed in a time-bound manner and were bound to facilitate the smooth plying of vehicles besides reducing the distance and easing congestion on the circular road.

He said that the double-lane motorable tunnel would be 102 meters long and 9.5 meters wide with one meter pedestrian foot path on both the sides.

With the construction of the tunnel, the distance on circular road would be reduced by about 900 meters and ease the traffic congestion. The bridge over Snowdon Nallah would be 70 meters long and 10.50 meters wide with 1.5 meters pedestrian footpath on each side and would further reduce 140 meters road distance.

Mr Singh said that one of the biggest multi-storeyed parking would be constructed over the Snowdon Nallah and the four-storeyed parking would accommodate 250 light vehicles in a parking space of about 15,000 square metres.

He said that two more tunnels had also been proposed to be constructed in the town from Inter-State Bus Stand with Lakkar Bazar and another tunnel from Snowdon to Chhota Shimla.

Chief Minister said that the Union Government had approved Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission for the development of the important towns and Shimla was one of the towns approved for implementation of the scheme.

He said that the Mission would be implemented in letter and spirit to restore the heritage status of the capital town and bring back the faded glory. He said that with the completion of the initial three projects the Mission was likely to gain momentum and more activities would be undertaken in the near future.

UNI