1:52 AM
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ISLAMABAD: Non-availability of funds has served to stop work on Lowari Tunnel.
Launched in 2006, the project was to be completed in 2009 at a cost of Rs8 billion. But by now the cost has more than doubled to Rs18 billion, with the completion deadline being extended to 2014. Federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan told Dawn on Sunday that Rs6 billion had been spent so far on the project, but now the Korean construction company, Sambo, had stopped work for lack of funds.
"I have been making efforts to persuade the company to restart work, but it has put some conditions which are hard to accept," he said.
"We are studying the conditions and will take a decision within a week, he added.
Dr Khan said the project might be awarded to some other construction company, probably the Frontier Works Organisation, if Sambo stuck to its demands. He said the FWO had the capacity to build the tunnel.
Recently, the government approved Rs2 billion for the project and the ministry of finance released the amount on a special directive of the prime minister. The National Highway Authority plans to extend the route to Central Asian Republics through Tajikistan (Dushanbe). It will not only provide round-the-year land communication/transport facilities to the people of Chitral with the rest of the country but also boost economic activities in the area.
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