Rs1 billion released for Lowari tunnel project

ISLAMABAD, March 26: After coming to power, the PML-N federal government has taken the mega Lowari tunnel project quite seriously. This is perhaps because of the fact that the PML-N government gives priority to the development of communication infrastructure and Chitral MNA Shahzada Iftikharuddin has also vigorously pursuing the project which remained in the cold storage during the five-year-long PPP government. On Wednesday, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning and Development held a two-hour long special meeting to discuss different aspects of the Lowari tunnel project. During the meeting, the members of the committee were briefed by the chairman of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and the newly-appointed federal secretary communication. The meeting was informed that soon after coming to power, the federal government released one billion rupees for the project while another one billion was released in March. The meeting was also informed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was likely to visit the tunnel site in Chitral and the tentative date for the visit was April 4. During the visit, the prime minister is also expected to announce more funds for the project. The meeting was also informed that about four kilometers of the 8.6-km-long tunnel had been widened to make it a road tunnel while about 4.6 km was of the passageway was yet to be widened. About 100 per cent work on the widening of the 1.9 km in the Chitral side has been completed.]]>