CHITRAL, Aug 1: It will be a dream come true for the people of Chitral who are eagerly awaiting the construction of an all-weather road link with the rest of the country. The picturesque valley around 380km from Islamabad in the North-West Frontier Province remains isolated from the rest of the country and the world for months as heavy snows cut the road links.

Chitral is linked with the rest of the country through two roads — one passing through the treacherous Lowari pass at a height of 3200 metres and the other connecting it with Gilgit.   The snow over Lowari, which is one of the four mountains on way to Chitral entrance, become treacherous and difficult to cross in the winters, forcing closures and beginning of a long and difficult phase for its half a million population.   On an average 10 lives were lost annually when people try to cross the snowy Lowari pass on foot, local officials said, adding that many bodies buried under avalanches were found only when the summers melted the snow. Food supplies, medicines and other commodities of life ran short, they said.

“For serious medical cases, we just have to rely on local doctors, traditional medicines and Hakims, besides pray a lot to Allah, of course,” said elderly Bashir Wali, a shopkeeper in main Chitral bazaar.

Air link with Chitral, which mostly remains suspended due to bad weather, is an unaffordable mode of travel for the majority. “The prices of even ordinary items escalate beyond the reach of the majority,” Shahab Ali, an employee working for a local hotel said. “There is no business as there are no tourists; there is no trade as all road links are cut off,” he added.

The only option to provide a communication link with the rest of the country was to dig a tunnel through the mountain creating an all-weather link.

The past governments sat on the idea for five decades as it was considered more feasible than building an alternative road link through some of the most difficult terrains under extreme weather conditions.

The idea was initially conceived in 1956, but due to little resources and lack of political will, it could not materialise. Fifty years later, President General Pervez Musharraf announced his decision to go ahead with the ambitious project, and after completion of feasibility studies, the ground-breaking finally took place a year later.

The Rs8 billion Lowari Rail Tunnel is likely to take at least four years, though the president has called for expediting it, saying “money is not the issue.”

According to officials, the 8.6 km long tunnel will have a train track and will be used to ferry 23 cars or trucks across. The 500 metres of the central span will have a double track, allowing trains to cross and complete each trip in around 45 minutes.

Capable of catering to around 300 vehicles a day, the project life is 20 years. The tunnel can later be converted into a highway tunnel, with the existing rail link to serve as a service tunnel.

The tunnel with a height of 6.3 metres and a width of 5.88 metres will also have 10km long access roads on either side. Work on the tunnel has started.

The Lowari tunnel is being constructed on the 309km long stretch from Nowshera to Chitral and will pass through Mardan, Malakand and Chakdarra.

The Lowari Top is one of the four major mountain passes to enter Chitral. Others are the Dorah pass from Badakhshan in Afghanistan, Shandur Top from Gilgit, and Broghol from the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan.

At the inauguration, President Musharraf had directed the NHA to ensure completion of the project at a fast pace and to plan it in such way that I could be converted it into a highway tunnel at a later stage.

The government eventually plans to use Chitral as a hub for communication links to the Central Asian Republics, and a feasibility study for construction of a road to Tajikistan is being made.

This road link will pass through the narrow Wakhan strip in the Pamir mountain region in Afghanistan, onwards to Tajikistan to provide the land-locked state a vital link from Pakistan to the Arabian Sea.

District Nazim Maghfirat Shah said: “The road will serve as a gateway and open doors for business and trade for our large population which suffers a great deal due the closure of the roads.”

He said besides providing an alternative route to Gilgit, it will also help region’s fruit and vegetable growers, make the extraction of mineral resources easier and serve as an international route.

The newly-formed Pakistan Stones Development Corporation has also planned to set up a cluster to mine, cut and polish the precious marble stone from the area, with modern techniques, by minimising wastage, and targeting the export market.

Pakistan is also planning to upgrade the Karakoram Highway and the president had proposed a “ninth wonder” of the world by constructing a rail link with China. His idea was an instant hit and the president of Kazakhstan evinced keen interest in the project.—APP