In October 2009, the then government decided to change its design from a rail tunnel to a road one. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Work on Lowari Tunnel located on Nowshera-Dir- Chitral Road is going on and the project, worth Rs 18 billion, will be completed in three years. A National Highway Authority (NHA) official informed media officials on Wednesday that the delay in the construction work was due to 2011 floods and the disputes over payment between the Korean construction company SAMBU and the NHA.
He said that when the Lowari Tunnel project began in 2005 it was planned to be constructed in two phases. The project could not be completed in October 2008 as planned. In October 2009, the then government decided to change its design from a rail tunnel to a road one. Work on the project was discontinued again in June 2011, primarily due to financial constraints.
There was an allocation of Rs164 million under the 2010-11 PSDP but most of the funds had not been released.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2013.
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Odd remarks by Sterry. The Lowari tunnel was started by Mr Bhutto. By 1976 he was informed that there were no funds and work came to a stop during his time. General Zia never continued the work although there was a feeble attempt to get the americans interested in it in1987. In the nineties Benazir tried to get the Scandanavian countries and Japan interested in it but with little success. Musharaf being a dictator with plenty of resources after 2011 made it a priority and allocated a huge amount for it as a result the hole through the mountain was completed. If it needs another 17 billion to complete lets wait for another dictator to do that because why would any democrat spend seventeen billion on making four hundred and fifth thousand people happy when with the same amount ten seats can be won in Karachi. Chitralis better think
I hope this project gets completed soon but I seriously doubt it specially after the federal government has allocated only one billion rupees for it in the budget when the requirement was more than eight billion.
Finally it seems that things are getting done in Pakistan. It seems that it will take a PML N government under the Sharifs to finally finish a project started by Bhutto in the 1970s and stalled under the Musharraf dictatorship.