ISLAMABAD: The Lowari tunnel and Nowshera-Chitral Highway (N-45) projects would be completed by October 2017, said an official of National Highway Authority (NHA) on Thursday.

He said that work on Lowari tunnel project started in Sept 2005 and it was to be completed by Sept 2008, but its completion period was extended after its conversion to a road tunnel in 2009.

Answering a question, he said that total allocation as per revised PC-1 of the Lowari tunnel was Rs18.13 billion and an amount of Rs9.4 billion had been incurred on the project so far with physical progress of about 44 per cent.

Work on the tunnel began on Sept 8, 1975 but it was stopped in 1977 after change of the government on the pretext of lack of funds and other development priorities. The work did not resume until Sept 2005.

The tunnel will reduce the current 14-hour drive from Chitral to Peshawar by 50 per cent. Moreover, people of Chitral have to travel through Afghanistan and then enter back into Pakistan during the winter season when Lowari Top is closed for traffic. Chitral remains virtually inaccessible during winter and the tunnel will facilitate all-weather transportation.

A South Korean construction company has been assigned the work on the tunnel.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2015

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