Lowari tunnel to be completed by 2018

[Edevelop]

ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (APP): Lowari road tunnel project will be completed by 2018 subject to availability of adequate funds, said an official of National Highway Authority (NHA). He said that the work on Lowari Rail Tunnel was envisaged to be completed by Oct 2010 but its completion period was extended after its conversion to a road tunnel. To a question, he said that total allocation as per revised PC-1 of the Lowari tunnel was Rs.18.13 billion, out of which Rs 8.3 billion has been incurred so far.
To another question, he said National Highway Authority (NHA) and Frontier Works Organisation have joined hands to keep the Lowari Tunnel open for traffic during the heavy snow fall.
The NHA has made arrangements to keep the under-construction tunnel two days a week to facilitate the people of Chitral. However he said sometimes due to heavy snowfall around the tunnel, it has to be closed for some days.
Sometimes the tunnel gets snowed in and the snowfall is so heavy and incessant that it remains humanly impossible to keep the track open, he said.
He said Sambu, a Korean company, was working to build the tunnel but as with the advent of winter season Lowari top route was blocked due to heavy snow. So the NHA opens the road tunnel to provide link to the stranded people of Chitral.

Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Lowari tunnel to be completed by 2018