Lakpass Tunnel project to be completed by April

Islamabad: Work on Rs 928 million Lakpass Tunnel in Mastung district of Balochistan is in full swing and the project is likely to be completed by end of April.

A source in Ministry of Communications said on Sunday that the construction of the Lakpass Tunnel would facilitate trade activity inside the country and with the Central Asian republics and that better business opportunities would also be available to the local people of the area.

The Lakpass Tunnel, about 27 kilometres away from Quetta will be an important part of the National Trade Corridor (NTC). The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) is constructing the tunnel that will connect Quetta to Iran through Quetta-Noshki-Taftan Highway (N-40) and Karachi through Karachi-Khuzdar-Quetta-Chaman Highway (N-25).

He further said that under the project, 180-metre long tunnel and a link road would be constructed and the FWO would construct three lanes tunnel on build- operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

He said that the project also included 7.3 metres wide approach road with three-metre shoulders to the tunnel and rehabilitation of the existing road to 7.3 metres width and 3 metres shoulders following the existing alignment to allow smooth flow of traffic. At present, Lakpass is considered a weak link on N-25 and N-40 leading to Iran and Afghanistan and then to Central Asia. The gradient of the existing Lakpass crossing is 15 percent and as a result the vehicles creep up at a snail’s pace. The problem of steep gradient is aggravated by sharp blind curves.