Planning Ministry To Be Approached For Update On Lowari Tunnel Funds' Allocation: NA Told

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Tuesday informed the National Assembly that the Ministry of Planning and Development will be approached to get an update for the allocation of funds in the next budget for completion of remaining work on the Lowari Tunnel

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th May, 2022 ) :Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Tuesday informed the National Assembly that the Ministry of Planning and Development will be approached to get an update for the allocation of funds in the next budget for completion of remaining work on the Lowari Tunnel.

Responding to a Calling Attention Notice regarding stoppage of construction work on the approach road of Lowari Tunnel, Chitral, he said it was unfortunate that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had not released even a single penny for the project during the last three and half years.

He said the revised PC-1 of Rs 46 billion had been forwarded for the approval to the Ministry of Planning and Development, and soon after the approval and allocation of funds the work would be resumed on the project.

Sharing the information about the project, he said, initially the project was designed in 2004-05 for the railway track with an estimated cost of Rs18 billion.

The project was redesigned for the movement of vehicles in 2011 and spent Rs18 billion.

In 2018 with the revised cost of Rs26 billion work on some parts were completed.

The mover of the calling attention notice Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali said that it was regrettable the PTI government had not started work on the project during its tenure.

He informed the House that with completion of the project, tourism activities in the area would flourish enabling the country to earn millions of Dollars.