Sela tunnel in Arunachal will bolster security on the China border

At an altitude of 13,500 feet, in icy cold weather, workers employed by the Border Roads Organisation are at work to complete the Sela tunnel which would bolster all-weather connectivity to the critical Tawang and Kameng regions of Arunachal Pradesh.

Once its construction is completed, the Rs 700 crore tunnel on the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road will ensure better movement of troops and weaponry to various forward locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

“We hope to complete the project by June next year. The Sela Tunnel will then become the world’s longest bi-lane road tunnel above the height of 13,000 feet,” said project director Colonel Parikshit Mehra, who worked earlier worked for five years with the construction of the Atal Tunnel at Rohtang.


The 1.55 km tunnel located in Nuranang between the Tawang and West Kameng districts will cut down the distance to Tawang by six kilometres and the travel time by at least an hour, he said,

At, present, the movement of troops and military equipment is severely hit when the Nuranang area, where the tunnel is being constructed, receives heavy snowfall during harsh winter months of December-February.

The existing 317-km long Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road meanders through the Sela Pass at an altitude of 13,800-feet. "The Sela Pass is visible to the Chinese from the LAC. The new tunnel will pass under the Sela Pass,” a senior officer of the Army’s 4 Corps told TOI.

The construction of the tunnel is expected to be completed by June next year, two months ahead of its scheduled deadline of August 2022.