Login

The ambitious Kiratpur-Manali four-lane highway project, envisioned as the backbone of tourism, trade and economic growth in Himachal Pradesh, has witnessed an extraordinary cost escalation from its original estimate of Rs 1,818 crore to nearly Rs 6,000 crore. Repeated monsoon disasters, particularly in 2023 and 2025, have inflicted extensive damage on the under-construction highway, forcing the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to undertake large-scale reconstruction, redesign vulnerable stretches and explore new alignments.