Malakand Road Tunnel project: Link to Central Asian Rebulics (CARS)

[LahoreEstate]

ISLAMABAD (January 28 2009): Pakistan is likely to receive a loan amounting to $90 million from South Korea to carry out Malakand Road Tunnel (MRT) project that will provide a linkage with Central Asian Republics and China. The government plans to build MRT in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), which would provide a viable alternative route linking Pakistan with Central Asian Republics (CARs) and China costing over Rs 8 billion.

Sources told Business Recorder that South Korea has agreed to provide loan worth $90 million for MRT project and the Economic Affairs Division has asked the Communication Ministry to provide feasibility study. Pakistan had earlier sought $130 million for Malakand Tunnel but it has revised demand to $90 million forecasting decline in the cost of project due to reduction in prices of material.

The EAD has sought feasibility study of the MRT project to negotiate deal for proposed loan with South Korea. Sources said that South Korea is currently following China to deal Pakistan for different loans, as it wants the consultancy of the projects and contracts to carry out different plans for which it would provide a loan. China is currently working on different projects in water and power sectors and Pakistan has awarded contracts for many projects to Chinese companies. China also provides machinery to materialise projects for which it gives a loan, sources added.

National Highway Authority has given the contract of MRT and two other small tunnels to Sambo, a South Korean company. The said company has already completed the construction of Lowari Tunnel, the longest tunnel in Pakistan and the second largest of the world with a cost of over Rs 7 billion. The Lowari Tunnel is 8.8km long located in NWFP between Dir and Chitral Districts.

Sources said that from the strategic point of view MRT would be an important tunnel as it would connect Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics through a narrow strip of Wakhan in Afghanistan. "Not only the Central Asia, the tunnel would also provide a link to some parts of Western China, sources added.

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