KOHAT: The social and political circles have expressed concern over delay in construction of the second Kohat Friendship tunnel which has been due since 2013 as the existing one has failed to absorb the load of ever increasing vehicular traffic.

The first two kilometers long tunnel was completed in 2003 with a suggestion that the second one would be constructed after 10 years to control traffic load when the number of vehicles using it would cross 14,000 a day. The existing one had cost Rs5 billion, ridding the travellers of the 11-kilometre-long hilly track between Peshawar and Kohat which resulted in frequent accidents.

The project manager of the operational unit of the Japan-Pakistan Tunnel, Jamshed Hassan, when contacted, told Dawn on Monday that the consultants from the Japanese Taisi company had marked the site for the second tunnel in 2009, but nobody from the firm had paid visit to the site since then.

He said the firm had started bringing heavy machinery from Afghanistan to start work, but the Japanese government did not give security clearance to staff due to ongoing war against terror.

Earlier, the Japanese staff had left the work on the first tunnel incomplete when the US launched attack on Afghanistan.

Mr Hassan asked the government to take up the issue with the Japanese government to start work on the tunnel as now there was no security issue in the adjoining tribal areas. The second tunnel is proposed to be used by trucks which are a hurdle in smooth flow of traffic in the existing one.

Mr Hassan said if built the second tunnel would help alleviate traffic congestion, improve traffic safety and promote economic development.

Sources said the National Highway Authority had approved an eight-lane Indus highway between Kohat and DI Khan and that the government should make the tunnel part of the project otherwise the road project would be rendered useless.

HASHISH SEIZED: The police on Monday seized hashish being smuggled from tribal area to southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and arrested three tribesmen at the Friendship tunnel toll plaza.

A statement said the staff at the tunnel checkpost recovered six kilogrammes hashish during search of a car coming from Peshawar and arrested three men identified as Imran Khan, Aadul Satan of Bara Khyber Agency, and Mohammad Nasir of Kurram Agency. They were shifted to Riaz Mohammad Shaheed police station where a case was registered against them.

During preliminary interrogation, they admitted buying the consignment from Khyber Agency and carrying it to a party in Bannu.A court granted physical remand of the accused to police for further investigation.

MOCK EXERCISES: The mock exercises of police commandoes continued on the fifth consecutive day on Monday ahead of Muharram at the district courts, general post office and educational institutions.

The commandoes carried out mock rescue missions, arrival of quick response force, release of hostages and arrest and killing of terrorists.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2017