The Public Works Department (PWD of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) has started construction of Naran to Lake Saif-ul-Malook section of the road aimed at providing easy access to tourists to the world fame resort, almost 10,578 feet above the sea level in northern areas. The provincial government has allocated Rs 110 million for construction of the concrete road. Work on the project, initiated in May this year, will be completed in one year, PWD Sub-Engineer (Roads) Tariq Yusuf told APP. The lake, located at the northern end of the Kaghan valley, is accessible by 14 kilometers muddy and stony road from Naran through special jeeps during the summer season. While, on foot the trek from Naran to the lake takes around three hours.
The lake, which is one of the highest lakes in the country, will be approachable to all tourists through their own vehicles in 10 to 15 minutes instead of around one-hour-long bumpy drive in jeeps after completion of the road. A fairy tale called ‘Saif-ul-Malook’ written by renowned Sufi saint and poet Mian Muhammad Bakhsh is associated with the lake. It is the story of Egyptian Prince Saif-ul-Maluk who fell in love with a fairy princess at the lake.
The impact of the lake beauty is of such an extent that people believe that fairies come down to lake in full moon. President of T’Pak, an association working to promote tourism in this part of the northern areas, Seith Matiullah, talking to APP, expressed satisfaction over the construction of a concrete road. He said the amazing weather in Naran and the Lake surrounded by sky-touching mountains is great attraction for visitors during the months of June, July and August when most parts of the country witness extreme hot weather. Seith Matiullah was of the view that over 4,000 tourists daily visit to see the scenic beauty of the valley and lake, which would hopefully increase manifold after the completion of the under-construction road. Mostly, he said tourists visit the valley from June to September, adding, in the start of tourism season, over 4,000 tourists daily visit the valley and the number gradually increases to 20,000 per day. Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC on Sunday launched a bus service between Rawalpindi and Naran to facilitate local and foreign tourists in exploring the imaginary world and scenic beauty of the northern areas. It is the only bus service which operates at the route in summer season from June to August every year since 1997, for tourists from across the country, especially the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
The PTDC is in constant touch with provincial governments for infrastructure development in tourist resorts across the country. It collaborates with all quarters concerned besides providing technical assistance and highlighting importance of building infrastructure and communication network, sources in the PTDC told APP. They said the PTDC also motivates and mobilizes private investors by setting up its own hotels and motels in the far-flung areas which encourage them for doing business there.
Pakistan Post expanding counter-automation system: The Pakistan Post is currently expanding its counter-automation system (CAS) to all general post offices (GPOs). An official of Pakistan Post told APP here on Thursday that the CAS aims at computerizing the post office counter, adding that it provides state-of-the-art point of sale terminals which can handle all the counter operations and ensure integrated service provision at each counter.
“Postal administrations, realising the change rose to the occasion, launched an array of customer-oriented products and services and were able to reclaim some of their revenues lost to courier services,” he said and added that Pakistan Post, keeping with the imperatives of market forces, introduced new products to respond to customer needs for a faster, efficient and cost-effective message services, including urgent mail service (city-to-city), urgent mail service (local and express mail service (EMS) International.
