ISLAMABAD: The National Highway Authority (NHA) has been carrying out a vigorous campaign to remove the encroachments from the NHA’s right of way.

NHA was removing the encroachments under National Highway Strategic Road Control Rules 1998 with the cooperation of district administration, local police and National Highways and Motorway Police, said an NHA official.

To a question, he said that several encroachments had been made by the local people on Rawalpindi-Lahore Section of Grand Trunk Road (N-5).

He said there were different types of encroachments varying from permanent structures like shops, hotels, and buildings to temporary structures like kiosk, stacked materials, sheds, canopies, and concrete structures.

Replying to a question, the NHA official said that this was an ongoing activity for which NHA was making efforts to deploy an encroachment squad at regional level to ensure consistence and timely action to avoid the encroachments.

The official also said the Lowari tunnel project would be completed and become operational by March next year.

About unusual delay in the completion of the project, he said that work on Lowari tunnel project which started in September 2005 was supposed to be completed by 2008 and as per PC-1 it was to cost Rs 9 billion.

However, its completion time was extended when the then government decided to convert it into a road tunnel in 2009, rather than the rail tunnel as per the original plan.

Answering a question, the official said that total allocation as per revised PC-1 of the Lowari road tunnel was Rs 18.13 billion.

He said that the recorded history showed that the Lowari Tunnel project idea was discussed in the National Assembly of Pakistan by the member from Chitral, Jaafar Ali Shah in 1970s.

He said work on the tunnel began for the first time in 1975 but it was stopped in 1977 after change of the government on the pretext of lack of funds and other development priorities.

The work did not resume until September 2005. He said after its conversion work on the road tunnel continued slowly due to multiple reasons including lack of funds, issues over funds releases between NHA and Korean construction firm SAMBU and prolonged winter season.

The incumbent government after coming to power approved additional funds for a revised PC-I of the Lowari tunnel to ensure its completion as early as possible.