KOHAT: The National Highway Authority has renovated the 1.9-kilometre-long Pak-Japan Friendship Tunnel.

The people had been complaining of suffocation due to smoke emitted by 20,000 vehicles using the tunnel daily, and faulty lighting system, which had been damaged in a twin bomb blast in 2011.

Kohat deputy commissioner Abdul Kalam Chitrali took up the issue with the NHA, and after marathon talks the latter agreed to install new lights and make most of the damaged exhaust fans functional.

Mr Chitrali said repair of the tunnel was a must as it had become a black hole and a bane for motorists and transporters.

The tunnel was completed at a cost of Rs5 billion and opened for traffic in 2003. The construction of the tunnel rid the transporters of the 22-kilometre-long hilly track between Kohat and Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2025