Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Himachal Pradesh Saturday to inaugurate the 9.02-km long horseshoe-shaped single-tube, two-lane tunnel -- one of India's strategically most important infrastructure projects beneath the majestic Rohtang Pass --  it is not only considered a marvel of engineering motorways, but a dream of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and named after him, that has been completed after 10 years of sheer hard work by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) with an outlay of Rs 3,200 crore.

Residents of Prini, located on the outskirts of Manali where the gentleman-politician had built a cottage, believe Vajpayee was the man behind cementing the "tunnel of friendship" constructed at 3,000 metres above sea level -- the only road link between this town and the landlocked Lahaul Valley.

Solang, popular among skiers for snow and steep pistes, or ski tracks, just 13 km uphill from Manali, still has a foundation stone of the Rohtang tunnel.

The stone reads: "Commissioning of works for access road to south portal of proposed Rohtang Tunnel by Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee."

At the same spot, the tunnel's foundation stone was laid by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on June 28, 2010.

The tunnel will shorten the distance between Manali and Keylong by 46 km, shortening the travel time by nearly three hours.

With the maximum speed limit of 80 km per hour, the tunnel is expected to see traffic of 3,000 cars and 1,500 trucks a day.

The tunnel has consumed 12,252 metric tonne steel, 1,69,426 metric tonne cement and 1,01,336 metric tonnes of concrete, and excavated out 5,05,264 metric tonnes of soil and rocks by adopting the latest Austrian tunnelling method for construction. The construction contract of the tunnel was awarded to Strabag-Afcons, a joint venture between India-based Afcons Infrastructure and Austria's Strabag.

(IANS)