Lowari Tunnel: government urged to release Rs 4.5 billion for remaining work

Former Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has expressed grave concern over the closure of work on the Lowari tunnel and asked the government to immediately release the required funds of Rs 4.5 billion for completion of the remaining work on the mega project. He was talking to media persons at a protest camp set up by people of Chitral district along Sher Shah Suri Road near press club on Monday. The protest demonstration was led by former MNA and JI leader Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali. Several former nazims, leaders of Chitral and Booni Baras participated in the camp.Criticising the government's apathy towards this project of national interest, Qazi Hussain Ahmed said that Chitral was strategically very important district where several people were killed in different attacks from across the border but even then the rulers were not paying attention on improvement of its communication.He said that it was not only a long-awaited demand of the people and a core issue of the country but a dire need for the country mainly due to its access towards the central Asian countries. District Chitral, he said itself was so important from the tourism point of view that government could earn a lot of revenue through its attractive climatic conditions, fertile land, water, forest, minerals and other natural resources. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012