The Sela tunnel has been designed for a traffic density of 3,000 cars and 2,000 trucks per day.
The world's longest twin-lane Sela tunnel was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. The project was necessitated as the Balipara-Chariduar-Tawang road often remains closed due to snow and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the area.
The foundation stone for the Sela tunnel project was laid by the Prime Minister on February 9, 2019, and the construction work commenced on April 1 of that year.
The tunnel is situated at an elevation of 13,000 feet in Arunachal Pradesh and is strategically crucial as is close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The project comprises two tunnels, with the first one being a single-tube tunnel of 1,003 metres in length and the second being 1,595-metre-long, with an escape tube for emergencies. It has 8.6 km-long approach and link roads. In case of emergency, this escape tube can be used for the movement of rescue vehicles and evacuation of stranded people.
The tunnel has been designed for a traffic density of 3,000 cars and 2,000 trucks per day with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.
The Sela tunnel has been constructed using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM) at a cost of Rs 825 crore.
The execution of the mega project took over 90 lakh man-hours with an average of around 650 personnel and labourers working every day for the last five years.
Altogether 71,000 metric tonnes of cement, 5,000 metric tonnes of steel and 800 metric tonnes of explosives were used for the construction of the project.