NEW DELHI: In a fresh infrastructure push at forbidding heights, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on Tuesday started the construction of a high-altitude road in Ladakh’s Demchok sector to provide connectivity to one of the military’s farthest outposts in the sensitive sector, Fukche, which is three km from the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC), officials aware of the matter said on Tuesday.

At its highest point, the new road will roll over an altitude of 19,400 feet, and, when ready, it will be the highest motorable road in the world. The existing highest- motorable road in the world has also been built by the BRO.

India reactivated an airstrip at Fukche, located at a height of 13,000 feet, in November 2008 — a development that led to protests by the Chinese. The airstrip had till then been out of use for decades after the 1962 India-China war.

“On the occasion of 77th Independence Day @BROindia starts construction on yet another strategic road, Road Likaru-Mig La-Fukche. This road will pass through an altitude of 19,400 feet and will be the world’s highest motorable road surpassing the Umling La Pass,” the BRO wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The development comes at a time when India and China have been locked in a military standoff along the LAC in the Ladakh sector for more than three years, and negotiations are still on to resolve outstanding problems.

Despite four rounds of disengagement from the Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15), the Indian and Chinese armies still have tens of thousands of troops and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre.

Problems at Depsang in Daulet Beg Oldi sector and Charding Nullah Junction (CNJ) in Demchok sector are still on the negotiating table.

Two years ago, the BRO created a world record by constructing and blacktopping the world’s highest motorable road at Umling La in Ladakh at an altitude of 19,024 feet.

In a report from Ladakh, digital platform News9 reported that an all-woman unit of the BRO began the construction of the Likaru-Mig La-Fukche road. Colonel Ponung Doming is commanding the five-member team of the women combat engineers that is supervising the road construction, the report added.

The 1,800 special guests, among the 25,000 people who attended the 77th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on Tuesday, included 50 workers from the BRO.

The construction of the Likaru-Mig La-Fukche road began at a time when the Nyoma advanced landing ground in Ladakh is being upgraded to support fighter operations, the officials said. The airstrip at Nyoma was reactivated in September 2009. It was also out of use for decades after the 1962 India-China war.

While India has been focused on improving connectivity to areas near the India-China border for several years, the ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh saw the country move ahead faster with infrastructure projects including roads, bridges and tunnels.