BETTING BIG ON INFRA
Nitin Jairam Gadkari, 64, looks a lot fitter these days. A good 10 kilos leaner than he was a few years ago, he walks briskly and looks sharp in his navy blazer and running shoes, as he inspects the Zojila tunnel at Sonmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, surrounded by an entourage of engineers. The 14.5 km tunnel will supposedly be Asia’s largest bi-directional tunnel and offer year-round connectivity between Srinagar and Leh. The Union minister for road transport and highways was making a two-day trip to J&K and Ladakh to take stock of projects worth an estimated Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the region. The deadline for the Zojila tunnel has been advanced by nearly two years, to be ready before the Narendra Modi government seeks re-election in 2024. The revised deadline has come as a bolt from the blue for P.V. Krishna Reddy, managing director of Hyderabad-based contracting firm Megha Engineering Infrastructure, also on stage with Gadkari as the minister makes the announcement. “The word impossible does not exist in my dictionary,” Gadkari says, his trademark grin barely concealing the peremptory message. Reddy can only look acquiescent, but his face gives away the challenges his team will face to pull it off in this hard terrain at a height of over 11,500 feet.
Construction of the Zojila tunnel had stalled after IL&FS (Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services), the earlier contractor, went bankrupt in 2018. It has taken off now and nearly 15 per cent of the
