Minister assures resumption of work over Lowari tunnel

Several successive governments have failed to complete the Lowari road tunnel and access roads project despite 126 per cent escalation in the cost, from Rs7.984 billion to Rs18.132 billion, after passage of three decades. Minister for communication once again assured Gigit-Baltistan that government would soon start work on the project. Federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir who was heading the meeting on Lowari Tunnel Project on Friday said this. Work on Lowari tunnel project has remained suspended from last five months due to shortage of funds while the PC-1 was also revised due to change of design from rail Tunnel to Road tunnel.
Minister was told by GM Lowari Road Tunnel Project Col (R) Salman Rasheed that Rs6.4 billion have been spent so far on Lowari Tunnel project costing over Rs18 billion. It was told that work on the project will be soon resumed by the contractors. The participants of the meeting were told that the Lowari Road Tunnel comprises of two tunnels which are of 8.5 kilometers and 2 kilometers respectively. GEO consultants in collaboration with SAMBU of Korea were working on the project and would resume the work on the much delayed project. The project envisages construction of 8.6 km mini-electric rail tunnel to provide facilities of a piggyback shuttle service for transportation of a mix of loaded cargo and passenger vehicles to and from one portal to the other between districts of Dir and Chitral.
Subsequently, it was decided to modify the already excavated tunnel cavity by enlarging the existing cross section up to three metres to provide space for two-lane road, including two-metre emergency land on both sides along with allied facilities. The modified road tunnel would thus accommodate three to five times the traffic volume capacity of the rail tunnel. The project, after completion, would contribute to overall socio-economic uplift of the region and will provide access from the Central Asian States to Gwadar deep sea port.
Federal Minister apprised the participants that this project is not only vital for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but, with its completion, a longstanding demand of the people of Chitral will also be fulfilled and the project itself will open new vistas of development and will established durable road links with Afghanistan and Central Asian States and hence will strengthen the country’s economy by facilitating trade, tourism, industry and agriculture.
The meeting was attended by Chairman NHA Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi, Member Infrastructures Planning Commission General (R) Shahid Niaz, Additional Secretary Ministry of Communications Amjad Nazeer, Joint Secretary Mathar Niaz Rana, Member Construction NHA Yousaf Ali Khan and GM Lowari Road Tunnel Project Col (R) Salman Rasheed and other high officials.