Lowari tunnel project nears completion

Islamabad: Over 70 per cent work of Lowari Tunnel project worth of Rs 8 billion on Nowshera-Dir-Chitral road (N-45) has been completed and the project would be completed next year.

A source in National Highway Authority (NHA), Ministry of Communications said that over 75 per cent work of 9 kilometres each access roads on both sides of the tunnel has also been completed.

The 8.6 km-long rail tunnel will provide all-weather communication linkage to the Chitral valley, which remains cut off with other parts of the country in winter. It would also facilitate Pakistan's link with landlocked Central Asian state of Tajikistan via a narrow strip of Afghanistan. With its completion distance between Peshawar and Chitral would be reduced to five to six hours, he added.

Work on the project started in 2005 but it was formally inaugurated in July 2006. A Korean firm is constructing around 9 kilometres long, 7.5 metre wide and 7 metre high tunnel.

The source said the project would be completed in two phases. In the first phase tunnel would be constructed while in the second phase a railway track would be laid, he added. He said it would be the biggest freight tunnel in Asia, adding that the project is a joint venture between Korean firm SAMBU and some local firms.

It was more than 50 years back when first feasibility was taken up by the government in 1955 and the first construction was undertaken by Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in 1975 during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's regime. The FWO carried out tunnel operation up to 500 meters but the project was abandoned by the then ruler President Ziaul Haq citing financial constraints.