Intervening in the debate initiated by Congress member Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, the CM said that building tunnels throughout the State, especially in far flung areas like Chamba, tops the priority of the Government as road connectivity through tunnels is better option for reducing the distance and all-weather traffic. “Keeping in mind the limited financial resources of the state and huge amount of money required for construction of tunnels, the Government will consider constructing these tunnels under public-private partnership mode and BOT basis,” Dhumal said.

He said that detailed project reports (DPRs) for construction of tunnels at three sites in at Bangana-Dhaneta in Una-Hamirpur, at Holi-Utrala in Chamba and at Karsehar- Telang in Mandi-Kullu have been prepared and the estimated cost of construction of these tunnels has been pegged at Rs 270 crore.

Replying to the discussion, Public Works (PW) Minister, Gulab Singh Thakur said that the State Government has decided to construct eight tunnels at different locations across the State.

He said that the “Government has also decided to construct road tunnels in Shimla from Himfed Petrol Pump to IGMC (0.860 km), Lift to Himfed Petrol Pump (1.140 km) and Khara Pathar to Shimla (2.840 km), at Ranital (0.270 km) in Kangra and Kainchi mor to Mehla (1.200 km) on the proposed Swarghat-Bilaspur bypass,” he said.

The Minister informed that in order to raise funds for construction of these tunnels, the Government has taken up the matter with Asian Development Bank and World Bank through the Department of Economic Affairs for external funding and also discussed the issue with thirteenth Finance Commission.