Chitral, March 23, 2027: The residents of both Upper and Lower Chitral continue to face immense hardships as critical road projects, including the Chitral-Shandur Road, the Booni-Buzund Road, and the Kalash Valleys Road, suffer from inordinate delays and deteriorating conditions.
Shabbir Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Chitral Development Forum (CDF) said the dilapidated state of the road network is the “prime issue” hindering the region’s progress.
He expressed grave concern over the National Highway Authority’s (NHA) maintenance standards, stating that the arterial routes from the Lowari Tunnel all the way to Chitral City resemble ruins rather than functional highways, although hundreds of millions of rupees have been spent on them over the years.
He criticized the NHA for the inordinate delay in completing road projects, including the Chitral-Shandur Road (153 km) and Kalash Valleys Road (46 km), which have faced technical and funding bottlenecks for the last ten years.
He said that despite Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s announcement during his visit to Chitral for early completion of the road projects in October last year, no headway has been made, an utter disappointment for the residents.
The CDF chairman highlighted that the NHA’s repair work is “well below the standard,” leading to rapid deterioration, and that patchwork on potholes does not withstand traffic pressure even for a month.
Mr. Khan also criticized the provincial government for its failure to complete the Booni-Buzund Road (35 km) project in Upper Chitral, executed by the Communication & Works (C&W) Department, which began in 2008.
He expressed regret that the project was supposed to be completed by 2012, yet nearly 14 years later, there is still no sign of its completion.
He said that due to the poor condition of arterial roads and delays in completing projects, the area is worst affected in all other sectors of development, including tourism, healthcare, and the cost of living.
“The fabulous potential of tourism here cannot be exploited until proper road infrastructure and all-weather access to all 36 sub-valleys of this mountainous area are ensured,” he said.
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