How safe is the Lowari tunnel?

By Maureen Lines

ZIARAT, on the Chitral side of the Lowari Pass, near the village of Asheret, is the gateway to Chitral and home to a contingent of the Chitral Scouts. It is also the final resting place of a Muslim saint who died many decades ago.
It has been the scene of many tragedies. Last year, 11 Scouts were killed in an avalanche; the year before, a Korean engineer was washed away in a flood, along with a small satellite village and expensive equipment. Ziarat is the site of the second entrance to the Lowari tunnel.
I have been travelling across the Lowari for the past 28 years. I know every twist and turn. I have been stranded at the top in a winter blizzard, slipped and slithered in spring ice and snow, and suffered from the heat of the summer in an open jeep on the lower slopes.
At the end of the eighties, I travelled with an American survey team across the pass. At the entrance to the tunnel (started in 1975 and abandoned due to ‘snags’), the senior geologist pointed out an earthquake fault line above the entrance. A couple of months later, I received a Christmas card from his wife telling me her husband had died in mysterious circumstances. No other details were given, nor any address.
I have been present both in Peshawar and Chital during minor earthquakes. Last week there was a tremor in Drosh. Two weeks ago, my Chitrali driver was coming to pick me up in Dir and felt a tremor coming over the pass. I have trekked all over these mountains and in Nuristan. I know only too well how treacherous and unstable the terrain is, especially when the mountainside is being blasted or heavy rains have fallen. In the Kalash valley of Birir I have seen many floods caused by deforestation.
In these mountains there is water seepage. When crossing the passes into Nuristan and taking shelter in caves I made it a point to always check if there was any water seeping through the rocks. What are the chances of floods and water seepage in the vicinity of the tunnel? Supposedly, if a tunnel is being dug through a thick rock base, there should be no water seepage, but what about all the mining disasters that have occurred throughout the world due to water seepage?
And floods? On the Chitral side of the tunnel the entrance has been built at the junction of two nullahs, one leading from the Lowari Top and the other which lies beneath deforested slopes. It was here that the flood came and washed away the engineer. On the mountainside opposite the tunnel entrance, below a slope shorn of trees, is the new construction housing the Chitral Scouts. It was here that the avalanche swept away the Scouts last year.
These are just the outside physical aspects. What about inside the tunnel? Is there any water seepage as rumoured? Has the soil been stabilised? Has the rock within the tunnel been reinforced with rock bolts? If so, has the tensile strength of the steel from which rock bolts are made been tested? Has a reliable epoxy been injected under pressure into these holes, which are often overhead? What about air quality? Maintenance? These are generally failings in Pakistan.
Although the Koreans are the experts involved in the tunnel operation, it was the Japanese who were first asked to build it. They refused as they considered it far too complicated and expensive. Tunnel-building is always hazardous. Some years ago there were problems in tunnels in the Alps. Recently a fire broke out in the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France.
Although a railway has been planned for the Lowari tunnel, there is a rumour that the tunnel may be open for light traffic this winter. Rs5.4bn was the quoted price for the tunnel in 2005. What is the real cost in 2008? How much has been allocated for the safety and security of the tunnel? I have requested a meeting with the secretary for communications in the hope that he can answer these questions.
The people of Chitral have always been desperate for an all-weather route throughout the year. They have long been neglected and cut off from the rest of the country, as though they were second-class citizens, but why were other alternatives such as a chairlift and an alternative highway on the Swat side of the pass not given more consideration?
The Chitralis want access to the outside world during the winter as well as the rest of the year, but they do not want to put their lives in danger. It is imperative that the public be told about measures taken for their safety and that before the tunnel is opened inspection teams from the Alpine countries of Europe be given tours of this project.--Dawn

The writer, a British author and photographer, is the director of the Kalash Environmental Protection Society and the Hindukush Conservation Association.