Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today (12 September) inaugurated 90 infrastructure projects built by Border Road Organisation (BRO) in border areas close to China.
Aimed at catching up with China’s border infrastructure development, these projects include 11 newly-completed initiatives by BRO in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), with a total cost of Rs 162 crore.
The projects also include the construction of 21 roads, 64 bridges, one tunnel, two airstrips, and two helipads along the northern and western borders.
The Defence Minister inaugurated the 500-metre-long Nechiphu tunnel, located on the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang road in West Kameng, Arunachal Pradesh.
This tunnel, valued at Rs 86 crore, will bypass the Nechiphu pass, where extreme foggy conditions often cause delays for civilian vehicles and army convoys.
Of the 90 projects inaugurated, 11 are in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 are in Ladakh, 36 are in Arunachal Pradesh, five are in Mizoram, three are in Himachal Pradesh, two each are in Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal, and one each in Nagaland, Rajasthan, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with a total worth of Rs 2,914 crore.
In addition, Singh also laid the foundation stone for the upgrade of Nyoma Advanced Landing Ground to a fully-fledged airbase with a 2.7 km long concrete runway in eastern Ladakh.
This will bring IAF’s fighter jets within a proximity of less than 50 km from the LAC with China.