Lowari tunnel

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Tunnel (June 2, 2017)

The Lowari Tunnel is an 8.5-kilometer-long tunnel that has been under construction in the North-West Frontier Province , Pakistan , since 2005 . The tunnel enables the Pakistani districts of Upper Dir and Lower Dir as well as Chitral to be reached even in winter, which at this time could only be reached by air or from Afghanistan. On July 20, 2017, it was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a construction period of almost 12 years .

Infrastructure

In addition to the Lowari Pass, the Chitral district can only be reached via three other mountain passes that are over 3,000 meters above sea level. In winter, these passes cannot be used for months. With the Lowari tunnel, this region will also be accessible during winter. The tunnel will cut the usual 14-hour journey time for vehicles between Chitral and Peshawar in half. Furthermore, a railway line is run through the tunnel. In winter, the Chitral district could only be reached via Jalalabad in Afghanistan through the Kunar valley along the Kunar River ; from Pakistan it could only be reached by plane. The population of Chitral expects the tunnel to develop a tourist and economic perspective.

Building history

The first plans to build the Lowari Tunnel existed as early as 1970 and concrete plans began in 1974 under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto . But President Zia-ul-Haq , who came to power after a coup d'état , stopped them for political reasons. Tunnel work began in September 2005. On January 20, 2009, the first vehicles drove from one end to the other end of the tunnel. The opening to traffic should take place in spring 2010.

The Lowari tunnel is being built by a construction company from South Korea, the SAMBU. The construction costs at the time of inauguration are 27 billion Pakistani rupees . The construction is supervised by the National Highway Authority (NHA) of Pakistan.

Completion dates

Originally, the tunnel was supposed to connect the Upper Dir district and the Chitral district after completion in spring 2008 and replace the Lowari Pass . Due to many political, planning and technical difficulties as well as cost problems, a completion date for March 2014 had been announced. According to a press release in August 2014, the tunnel should now be completed by October 2017. The tunnel was finally inaugurated on July 20, 2017.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b PM inaugurates Lowari Tunnel project in Chitral , The Nation , July 20, 2017
  2. ↑ a b Lowari Tunnel - a real game changer for Chitralis , Zahiruddin, Dawn , August 6, 2017
  3. ↑ Vehicles cross Lowari Tunnel , December 14, 2009 (English)
  4. ↑ Business Recorder. April 12, 2009 , December 15, 2009
  5. ↑ Over Budget Lowari Tunnel to Be Inaugurated Today Finally Amin Yusufzai, ProPakistani, July 20, 2017
  6. ↑ Lowari Tunnel project to be completed in 3 years (English) from July 18, 2013, accessed on December 13, 2014
  7. ↑ Engr Husain Amad Siddiqui: Unending delays in Lowari Tunnel project , March 14, 2010, in English, accessed on March 2, 2013
  8. ↑ Lowari Tunnel likely to be completed by 2017 ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 23, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dailytimes.com.pk

Coordinates: 35 ° 21 '  N , 71 ° 48'  E