Practical solution to the Lowari Obstacle

 

 Newspapers report that Rs 6 billion have been approved for the construction of a rail tunnel through the Lowari Pass. If this information were true, it is a very positive development as the magnitude of the Lowari problem has been recognized and a positive step has been taken in this direction for the first time. However, before launching work on the rail tunnel it is imperative that all implications be taken into consideration and the other alternatives, to the rail tunnel, which are clearly more practical and cost effective be seriously studied.

 

The first argument, which disqualifies the construction of a tunnel, is the continuous maintenance cost and care that would be required to keep an 8 km tunnel open. Specially with the advent of terrorism as a culture and the latest technologies employed by saboteurs and terrorists the trend all over the world is to get out of existing tunnels, let alone making new ones. Secondly, the concept of a single track light rail system in the middle of the mountains is a very superficial and flimsy idea, which will not only be inadequate but present a constant headache even after it is made. The most natural and practical solution to the Lowari problem is to raze the Lowari top down to a manageable height. 

 

The Lowari saddle sits astride soft mud and the hills surrounding it are composed of soft and easy to raze mud and stones. Razing the Lowari top from its present 10500 ft to 7000 ft is indeed the best solution to this problem, which is very easily possible because of the soft hills and the absence of population in this area. Numerous examples of eliminating bigger hills and obstacles to make way for development can be found all around the world. This scribe recently visited a similar project in Almaty Kazakhstan where a larger hill than the Lowari was artificially created with the help of bulldozers just to facilitate a ski slope. Compared to the mentioned project the Lowari project would be much easier as it involves razing and alleviating the hill rather than building anything.

 

The Pakistan Air force when called upon to undertake this task of National importance can easily accomplish the task of softening the lowari top with their effective high-tech bombs, in a matter of days. Thereafter it is simply the task of bulldozers to push the debris on to either side of the top equally, over which a four-lane highway can be comfortably made well within the allocated budget. The couple of spots, which are prone to glacial snow, can be easily covered with a canopy or even the complete route of about 15 kms (the distance reduces tremendously in this case) can be covered with a verandah (like the Salang Highway of Northern Afghanistan). 

 

This kind of an arrangement for the Lowari pass is feasible, cost effective, Eco-friendly, most reliable and permanent. More over it would make the area greener due to the ensuing natural attention and organized plantation on both sides of the road and surrounding slopes. Lowering of the Lowari top would also allow monsoon clouds to enter Chitral and increase the much-needed rainfall in the area. The thus carved out ‘Lowari Highway’ will not only redress the long outstanding grievance of the Chitrali people but would open a gateway to the trade routes of Central Asia, be a center of attraction for tourists from world over and become a feather in the cap of the Govt, which achieves it …-Editorial