MUZAFFARABAD: Civil society activists from the Leepa valley in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday protested to remind Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of his commitment to the construction of a tunnel to allow year-long access to their area.

Home to around 80,000 people, some 100 kilometres southeast of Muzaffarabad, Leepa valley is only accessible by two narrow roads and one pedestrian track beyond Reshian village. These tracks run through an altitude of around 10,000 feet.

All three routes are frequently blocked by the heavy winter snowfall, forcing residents to take a perilous journey on foot.

Valley residents have been demanding a tunnel for some time, and their hopes were rekindled when Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced its construction in June 2011.

After the elections the executive board of the National Highway Authority cleared the PC-1 for the construction of a 3.79 kilometre tunnel, with realignment of the access road for Central Development Working Party (CDWP)/Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approval meeting on September 14.

The project was cleared by CDWP at a cost of Rs7.3 billion, and Rs50 million were allocated in the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2014-15 for the project.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2016