Work on Lowari Tunnel second phase in full swing

By Bakhtawar Mian

ISLAMABAD: The National Highway Authority (NHA) has completed excavation work on the Lowari Tunnel project which will be opened for traffic next year, NHA spokesman Kashif Zaman told this reporter on Sunday.
He said after completion of the first phase on January 14, speedy work was in progress including laying of railway track, air ventilation system, lighting system, walkways and a loop in the middle of the passage. Once operational, the 8.5 kilometer-long Lowari Tunnel will be the biggest project of its kind in Pakistan, he added.
General Manager Lowari Tunnel project Col (retired) Salman Rashid told Dawn that the cost of the project prepared in the year 2000 was about Rs8 billion which was now likely to touch the Rs13 billion mark due to the continuing rise in prices. “We are working on the revised cost,” he added.
According to the plan, a rail will run through the seven-metre wide tunnel. Vehicles of all kinds with the passengers on board will be uploaded onto the rail at one end of the tunnel and downloaded at the other. The rail proposed to be run through the track will have the capacity of carrying about 23 vehicles. In the middle of the tunnel, there will be a loop for changing track by the trains. Approach roads will also be constructed on both sides of the tunnel.
The tunnel will provide the valley of Chitral with an all-weather route besides giving Pakistan a short and easy access to the Central Asian countries. The opening of the tunnel will also boost tourism and trade activities in the area.
The GM said the tunnel was a complex project and, therefore, technical assistance was sought from foreign experts. Accordingly, Austria provided all the technical help in excavation of the tunnel while Spain will assist the NHA in laying of the railway track and engines, he said.--Dawn