ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has called for drastically improving the network of roads across the country to help undertake greater trade and economic activities.

The president, while presiding over a meeting here on Friday, particularly directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to make necessary arrangements for the early construction of Lowari Tunnel to facilitate the people of Chitral.

It was, he said, a project of national importance, which needed to be completed in accordance with the longstanding demand and aspirations of the people of Chitral.

NHA Chairman Maj-Gen Farrakh Javed told Dawn after the meeting that work on the six-billion-rupee Lowari Tunnel project would be launched in early October. He regretted that the project, conceived in 1975, could not start due to financial and technical difficulties.

Foreign experts would be hired for technical assistance about the project, he said, expressing his hope that some kind of joint foreign and local venture would be developed to successfully complete the project.

The government has already approved Rs700 million for the project during the current financial year.

The NHA chairman said the president had pledged Rs3.4 billion for the construction of Peshawar-Turkum Road that would be completed in three years.