New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS): Infrastructure development is one of the crucial agenda for the government and we have to make the technology economically viable and safe, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said on Tuesday.

In his address at an Assocham event in the national capital, the minister said developments in the field of water, power, transport and communication, are very important for our country because by creating such infrastructure, we can also create immense employment opportunities.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, developing road infrastructure and tunnels has a huge potential for auto investment and development in this area. Regarding bridges and tunnels, these are very crucial work, and our objective is to reduce the cost without compromising with the quality," said Gadkari.

He said there are a lot of tunnels not only in the road and highways sector but also in the railway network.

“The issue of importing machinery from China is very difficult. Need different types of machinery. Reducing the cost is the need of the world," the minister stated.

One of the key tunnel projects in India is the Zojila Tunnel, which is 14.2 km and costs Rs 6,500 crore, while 55 per cent of overall physical progress is completed.

"This is one of Asia’s most important and longest tunnels at an altitude of about 9,800 feet under Zojila Pass," said Gadkari.

In a move to bolster the highway network across the country, the government is planning to build 74 new tunnels at a projected expense of Rs 1 lakh crore over the next few years.

The government has already completed 35 tunnels spanning 49 km at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore, and now plans to build new tunnels stretching 273 km.

In March this year, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the strategically crucial Sela Tunnel, constructed at a cost of Rs 825 crore, in Arunachal Pradesh. It is the world’s longest bi-lane tunnel at 13,000 feet. In July, PM Modi launched the construction of the twin-tube 4.1-km-long Shinkun la Tunnel on the Nimu-Padum-Darcha road to provide round-the-clock connectivity to the northern borders with China.

Meanwhile, the Atal Tunnel was inaugurated by PM Modi on October 3, 2020. The Atal tunnel was completed after 10 years of sheer hard work by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) with an outlay of over Rs 3,200 crore.