CHITRAL: A decade-long delay in the construction of the 110-kilometre Chitral-Mastuj Road has turned this vital transport corridor into a massive environmental hazard, resulting in the accumulation of dust that threatens regional climate stability, agriculture and public health.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Hamid Ahmed Mir, an environmentalist working with an international conservation body based in Chitral, said that as per engineering estimates utilising internationally recognised emission-factor methodologies, this unpaved artery generates an astonishing 40,000 tonnes of airborne dust annually.

He feared that this included nearly 9,600 tonnes of respirable particulate matter, which is much above the threshold value, and its excess causes cardiovascular diseases and harms the respiratory tract.

“While these preliminary figures are modelled rather than directly measured in the field, they expose the catastrophic scale at which incomplete transportation infrastructure can degrade fragile mountain terrains,” he said.

Environmentalist says long delay in road construction causing harm to public health

Mir said that the geography of the valley aggravates the crisis as the region is characterised by loose glacial deposits, silt soils and sparse vegetation with meagre annual precipitation of 400 to 450 millimetres, while during the long and dry summer months the movement of just 200 vehicles per day travelling at modest speeds is enough to continuously pulverise the road surface.

“Chitral’s unique, narrow air shed topography traps this pollution with the result that the fine dust particles get elevated by the fast wind from the valley floor to higher strata of the air, depositing them directly onto surrounding mountain slopes,” he said.

Explaining the horrifying impact of the airborne transport on the glacier health, Mr Mir said that the glaciers and seasonal snowfields cover roughly 37 per cent of this high-mountain water catchment, and when the dark road dust settles onto pristine snow and ice, it reduces their reflectivity from 5 per cent to 20 per cent.

“Absorbing more solar radiation, the glaciers melt at a highly accelerated rate, and this phenomenon has triggered an unprecedented surge in glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs),” the environmentalist explained.

“Between 2000 and 2024, Chitral suffered 15 devastating Glof events, including the infamous Sonoghor outburst in 2007, and recurrent disasters at Reshun and Boni Gol,” he said.

Mr Mir said that this accelerating environmental degradation deeply intensifies local “environmental poverty” as over 60 per cent of Chitral’s population depends entirely on subsistence farming and livestock.

“Today, thick layers of roadside dust coat the leaves of famous local orchards, including apricot, apple, walnut, and cherry trees, stifling photosynthesis and crippling crop yields. This agricultural decline strikes an already deeply vulnerable population; regional data shows a staggering 47 per cent stunting rate among the children under five years of age and a 31 per cent multidimensional poverty rate,” he said.

Furthermore, the environmentalist said the dust suppresses vital alpine rangeland vegetation, limits livestock forage, and severely muddies local rivers, choking irrigation networks.

He warned that for the local population, breathing this air has sparked a public health emergency, causing a spike in chronic bronchitis, asthma and cardiovascular stress, while the long-term water security of millions in the downstream areas remains at stake if glacier reserves continue this rapid retreat.

To halt this spiralling crisis, upgrading the Chitral-Mastuj Road surface must become an immediate national priority, alongside comprehensive field studies to monitor this silent atmospheric threat, he concluded.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2026