KABUL. Dec 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Restoration of the strategic tunnel under Afghanistan's Salang mountain pass is to be completed by mid-2002, Colonel Shamsutdin Dagirov, head of the Russian humanitarian center in Kabul, said on Monday.
"We are planning to complete clearance of all rubble, dismantle fallen sections of anti-avalanche galleries and the tunnel's ventilation systems damaged by blasts, restore three ruined bridges and several sections of the motorway on the southern slope of the pass by February 1," Dagirov told Interfax- Military News Agency. The Russian Emergencies Ministry's engineer detachment and the labor army of Afghanistan's Social Affairs and Relief Works Ministry will be engaged in restoration of the pass.
Over 50 people are already working to rebuild the southern entrance of the tunnel, Dagirov said. He did not rule out that cars would be allowed to use the tunnel connecting Afghanistan's northern provinces and the south of the country as soon as the first stage of work was over. The scheduled date of the first stage's completion is February 1, 2002.
The second stage of the operation envisages restoration of all engineer communications, including the drainage system. Following that a Russian-Afghan detachment of the road commandant service will be set up, and the tunnel will be open for vehicles of any kind.
According to Dagirov, the total cost of the restoration will make RUB40m (USD1.32m). The work now involves Russia and the French Agency for Cooperation and Technical Development (ACTED), but the British DFED company is planning to join them.
DFED experts are expected to visit the pass in a few days. After that they will elaborate proposals concerning Great Britain's involvement in the project. British experts are currently working to guarantee autonomous power supply to rescuers operating in the tunnel.