Known as the ‘Switzerland of Asia’ and a tourist haven in Pakistan, access to Kalam valley has become an unfulfilled dream for the tourists because of the worst condition of its road and poor communication system.

The 31 kilometres road from Bahrain to Kalam is in such a bad condition that one just can’t travel on it. Half of the road was washed away in the 2010 floods, cutting off the valley from rest of the country. Later, local people with the help of the Pakistan Army had carved the dirt track to reconnect about 150,000 people living in areas beyond Bahrain.

Despite tall claims by representatives of both the provincial and federal governments, construction work on the road is yet to be started.

“We have seen a hat-trick of the road inauguration by representatives of different political parties. PML-N leader Amir Muqam, ANP MPA Syed Jafar Shah and PTI MNA Saleemur Rehman all have made inaugurations separately, but none of such functions followed start of the construction work,” Hayat Mohammad Kalami, a social activist, told Dawn.

He said that 80 per cent of the population of Kalam and adjoining areas depended on tourism, but poor condition of the road had shrunken the flow of tourists and affected their chief source of livelihood.

He said that the winter tourism had almost finished, forcing about 50 per cent of the local population to migrate to downtown areas. “When families migrate to other parts of the country in winter and return to Kalam in summer it also affects education of their children to a great extent,” he said.

During holidays there is always a huge rush of tourists from across the country causing heavy traffic jams which leave the residents in a mess. “In case of emergency we have to take our patients to hospitals in Mingora, but unfortunately they often die on the way to hospital due to traffic jams. We also miss urgent tasks due to the heavy traffic,” Mr Kalami lamented.

Residents and hotel owners complained that 50 per cent of the tourists who wished to visit Kalam returned from Bahrain after seeing the worst condition of its road. The popularity of Kalam can be gauged from the fact that over 150,000 tourists visited the valley during Eidul Fitr holidays where the 350 hotels fell short of space for them.

The surplus tourists had to stay in the tent village set up for them. Tourists get shocked when they hit the Kalam road coming just after Bahrain and most of them usually return suspending their plans to go further.

“We were really disappointed to see the condition of Kalam road as we could not go further though we had a sure plan to visit Kalam as we have heard many things about its scenic beauty,” said Aisha Afzal, a tourist from Rawalpindi who was returning home.

The tourists criticised the federal and provincial governments for not taking interest in the beautiful valley and also in promoting tourism.

“It is strange that the valley internationally known for its dazzling beauty which offers every pleasure to tourists has been deprived of the basic communication infrastructure. Such a beautiful valley at any other place in the world would have surely been equipped with every facility to attract more and more local and foreign tourists,” said Iftikhar Zaman, a tourist from Lahore who had just returned after a weeklong trip to Kalam.

He said that the valley offered every attraction to nature lovers; from lush green fields to high mountains, and from noisy waterfalls and streams to gushing rivers and magical lakes. “One cannot explore its beauty even in months,” he said.

Mankyal, Kalam, Utror, Gabral, Ushu are the largest vegetable producing areas in the country where seasonal and off-season vegetables grow in a huge quantity.

“We have the best quality of potatoes, peas, cabbages, cucumbers, tomatoes, French beans, turnips and also cherries and apples, pears, plums and grapes. Around 15 loaded trucks daily leave for the fruit and vegetable markets in the country from here, but the transportation charges have doubled due to the road condition,” said Bilal Khan, an agriculture expert from Kalam. He said that Gladiolus flower of a high quality also grew in Kalam. Falling of loaded trucks into ravines at different places has also become a routine.

When contacted, MPA from the area Syed Jafar Shah said that repeated efforts were made for the construction of Kalam road since the previous government.

“The Asian Development Bank in the previous government had approved a handsome amount for the construction of Kalam Road, the tender of which had also been announced. Due to some reasons it was delayed and then funds were withdrawn,” he said.

He said that he had protested the funds withdrawal on the assembly floor. “I have also got approved Rs580 million for its repair and work on it had also been started, but we stopped it as it was substandard. NHA has also initiated inquiry into it,” he said, adding that for construction of the road the ADB had pledged Rs22 billion. Its tender will be announced in September this year and work on it will be started in March 2016.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2015

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