Gul Hamaad Farooqi Chitral
Lowari Tunnel which has great importance for people of Chitral. This tunnel has been completed 80pc in 26 years but 20pc work is still left. Concrete, retaining walls, culverts, etc.
Work was continuing on the road from the northern portal of the tunnel to Bradham, which was closed due to lack of funds. The 7.3 km road ahead of the tunnel included 26 culverts and bridges in 1.6 km with fill, concrete and protective walls.
For this purpose, the National Highway Authority had released a fund of Rs 2.2 billion in 2017 and the work was to be completed in two years.
However, due to some technical weaknesses and departmental negligence, the work was delayed and started in October 2017.
This includes complaints from locals who had to pay for the land.
In 2018, the government changed and the PTI government came to power at the federation.
About 65pc of the work on the approach road had been completed and 35pc of the work was still to be done when PC-1 expired and the present government withheld its funds.
About Rs. 800 million is required to complete this work. According to reports, the work on the 1.6 km bridge was not included in the PC-1 project. It was an additional work.
PC One of Lawari tunnel which was Rs 26 billion was revised and increased to Rs 42 billion.
If this work had been completed on time, the work of Lawari tunnel could have been completed at Rs 24 billion but unfortunately due to negligence of departments, contractors Money laundering is always an obstacle to development projects.
There is still work to be done inside the Lawari Tunnel for which an additional Rs. 16 billion is required which will complete the work of this tunnel.
