Reported in today's Daily Excelsior the minister for J&K Roads & Bridges has set March 2012 as the completion date for the Nemo-Padum-Tarch highway. Nemo-Padam-Tarch refers to the chaddar road, and I presume the road linking Padum with Darcha. Tarch, I hope, refers to Darcha, rather than Takh. My uncertainty here is based on a rumour that an alternative road route was being considered to avoid the avalanche prone Shingo-La, this proposal would redirect construction out past Phugtal and through Shun to Takh (a fairly non-descript point on the Leh-Manli road) near Sarchu. Hopefully, from an environmental perspective, the Shingo La and Darcha is still the objective, to push a road through Shun - although I am sure it will happen at some point - would be a travesty.

So, the chaddar - in this case the frozen Zanskar River - will seemingly have another few years of pedestrian traffic before the road supersedes the need to walk on the ice. Presumably the further the road penetrates into the gorge the more chaddar trekkers will take the unfinished road as the easiest and most guaranteed trail. The writing is on the wall for one of the world's great treks, sure, it has been there for some time, but this announcement is a reminder that the road will be completed eventually, whether it is March 2012 or a year or five after that!

Who knows, environmentally the road may be the saviour of the Zanskar gorge; once finished it will remove the not so conscientious toilet-roll trekking groups and it will cut down on the collection of fire wood. However, unchecked juniper harvesting will certainly increase and people will have year round access to some of the most isolated valleys in the region - what they will do with this access is anyone's guess. Financially the road will change the Zanskar Valley overnight, Padum will become the new Leh in terms of tourist attraction, this includes a squadron or two of Enfield Bullets... The economic shift will far outweigh any loss of earnings suffered by chaddar guides, cooks and porters. The standard of living will increase in Zanskar, it will be fascinating to watch, great for the Zanskaris but heartbreaking for those with even the slightest romantic attachment to the Valley. But then, 'that's progress'.