The media team from Ahmedabad, Gujarat who are currently on a five day tour to Nagaland today visited the Kohima-Zubza railway project site and National Highway road projects taken up by NHIDCL in Nagaland.
According to a press release by PIB, the NFR officials first took the media team and PIB officials from both Kohima and Ahmedabad at tunnel number 7 site located at Pherima village under Chumoukedima district.
The team was given a warm reception at the site by railways officials led by Subhanan Chanda Chief Engineer NFR (Con) and Project Head.
During his presentation to the journos, Subhanan Chanda explained the different operational aspects of the project. He said a total of 20 tunnels are being constructed on the Kohima-Zubza portion and tunnel number 7 is the longest with a length of around six kilometres.
He said the Dimapur-Molvom portion is already completed and is in operation and NFR is setting the target to complete the project by early 2030.
Highlighting the challenges being faced in the project, Chanda explained that the drilling of the tunnels were very slow due to the condition of the soil and topography of the region and could dig a little more than one meter in a day.
Moreover, NFR has constructed around 40 kms length of new roads to reach the project sites and the local residents are also benefitting from it, the Chief Engineer added.
Chanda also said one big challenge facing the project was the gradient level from Zubza to Kohima as the distance was less and the elevation needed was steep.
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Thus NFR is exploring the possibility of going upto New Secretariat area of Kohima from Zubza. From their, Manipur’s capital Imphal can be easily connected, he added.
It may be mentioned that tunnel number 7 is located at a height of 700 meters from sea level and at a depth of around 240 meters inside the mountains.
The team led by K Sonikumar Singh, Assistant Director, PIB Kohima was later taken in vehicles inside tunnel 7 a little more than one km where the drilling work was going on.
Later in the evening, the media team visited project sites of National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) on the Kohima-Dimapur NH toll gate and Dillai toll Gate in Assam where they were received by NHIDCL officials led by Manish Kumar, Manager (P), in-charge PMU Dimapur, NHICDL.
Manish Kumar gave a detailed presentation of the NHIDCL projects in Nagaland. He also added that the NHICDL Dillai Gate toll booth will start functioning very soon.
