KOHAT, Jan 12: Built at a cost of Rs6 billion, the Kohat Friendship Tunnel has virtually been turned into a black hole due to non-repair of lights and the exhaust system, which were damaged by militants, causing nuisance to passengers.

Sources said that the National Highway Authority failed to renovate the tunnel connecting Peshawar with the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the last few years though its had been generating road tax worth millions every month since its opening in 2003.Wishing anonymity, officials privy to the issue told this correspondent by phone from Islamabad that the contractor company closed the tunnel for repair in its first phase for 10 days in April last year.

They said that without carrying out any repair work the company was claiming Rs7.5 million, which turned into a dispute between the NHA and the company.

The sources said that the exhaust fans, imported by the Japanese construction company, were sold in scarp, but new ones had not been installed. The NHA had decided in 2009 to float tenders to install new lights and ex-haust system with a cost of Rs400 million after it was damaged by militants in 2008.

The sources said that some of the exhaust fans and lights were in working condition, but due to negligence in annual repairs they developed irreparable faults. The price of one exhaust fan was Rs10 million whereas the lights had to be imported from Italy, they added.

They claimed that the decision to award the tender to Siemens company had been made, but the start of repair work was taking too long.

At the time of the tunnel's con-struction it was proposed that with the increase of rush, a second tunnel would be built by the NHA, which had got the training from the Japanese company. At that time the NHA had said that the second tunnel would be constructed in 2011, but the number of vehicles using the tunnel passed the limit within three years of its opening.

The 1.89-km tunnel has cut the travel time between Kohat and Peshawar by 20 minutes and unlike Kotal Pass it allows longer goods vehicle to pass through it.

Now the railways department is considering constructing a newtunnel and starting a train service between the southern region and Peshawar.Thousands of people daily go to Peshawar offices and return the same day. Similarly, people also go to Peshawar to catch a train for Karachi. Besides thousands of students the overseas Pakistanis would also get a convenient mode of transportation from Peshawar to southern districts with the launch of train service.

An official said that the project was in the pipeline, but the current situation of the PR was hampering the plan though it could be carried out by obtaining loan as was done in the case of friendship tunnel.