Lofty ambitions: Development of Gorakh hill station still up in the air

Officials from the tourist department say that the development work will have to be started from scratch.

KARACHI:

Over the years, government officials have often waxed lyrical about the development of the Gorakh hill station, which is often touted as the ‘Murree of Sindh’. But most of it seems to be lip service - the site remains undeveloped even though more than 150 years have elapsed since British rulers first discovered its potential as a recreational spot.

Despite repeated requests by the Gorakh Hill Development Authority, the revenue department has not even allotted land for the station yet. “We have repeatedly requested officials from the revenue repartment to allot 0.426 million acres to us, but to no avail,” the director general of the authority, Nazir Ahmed Chakrani told The Express Tribune. He said that they have been pursuing this issue for the last six years and have even approached the chief minister and chief secretary about the issue. But despite these efforts, there have been no tangible results. “How can we approach investors, whether national or international, if we don’t even own the land yet?” said Chakrani.

Deadlines for the development of basic infrastructure at the site have been set and then scrapped multiple times - the current one is June 2012. But officials from the tourism department do not think that the project will be completed by this date. The development work started five years ago. Around Rs100 million was spent on the development of infrastructure, but this money seems to have gone down the drain due to poor planning and the substandard material used. “Around Rs500 million have been spent on the 54 kilometre road from Wahi Pandhi town to Gorakh Hill Station - an astounding Rs10 million per kilometre. Despite spending this huge amount, the road has been damaged and the government has demanded an additional Rs100 million to restore it,” said an official from the tourist department. Chakrani defended the fact that an astronomical amount had been spent on this road. “Creating a path through mountainous terrain is no easy job. We not only had to build the road, but also had to construct bridges and cut through chunks of stone. That is why the cost has amounted to so much,” Chakrani said.

Officials from the tourism department said that Rs170 million was spent on electricity. But they said that before the power at the hill station could even be turned on, the wires and poles were stolen. Chakrani, however, refuted this and attributed the missing and damaged electricity poles to the heavy monsoon rains.

When Benazir Bhutto was first elected to power two decades ago, she visited the Gorakh hills and announced that the site would be developed. But no substantial work was carried out.

The government of General Pervez Mushrraf established the Gorakh Hill Development Authority in 2006. When contacted, the secretary of tourism Pir Bux Jamali said that all the work had been carried out without any planning. As a result, the infrastructure developed in the last five years has been damaged. “We have to start from scratch and are looking for the Sindh government’s cooperation in the matter,” said Jamali. He added that about three years ago, the government announced a Rs999 million project called ‘Gorakh Resort’. The federal government had to provide hafe of the amount, but nothing has been released so far. “We have spent around Rs96 million on the plans and other related work, but are still waiting for federal government budget,” he said.

Topographical features

The Gorakh Hills are a part of the Kirthar mountain range. They are located about 93 kilometres north-west of Dadu and 450 kilometres away from Karachi, at an elevation of about 5,688 feet above sea level. The temperature ranges from about 18C to 28C in the summer and -5C to 10C in the winter. The hills are so rugged that the peaks can only be reached by 4x4 vehicles.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2011.