By IANS,
Islamabad : Funds shortage has hit work on a nearly 2-km-long tunnel, which is on a road that will link Pakistan with Tajikistan.
The Lowari tunnel project has got delayed as no construction activity has been carried out there for the past three months, reported Dawn.
The tunnel will provide an all-weather route to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chitral district that gets cut off from the rest of the country in winter. The road will also link Pakistan with Tajikistan.
The work on the tunnel began six years ago and about Rs.8 billion has already been spent.
An official said the foreign contractor has demanded that his dues should be cleared and also sought a new contract as well as increasing by 50 percent the funds allocated for the project.
Initially, an amount of Rs.9 billion was allocated and it was subsequently revised to to Rs.18 billion due to design changes and rise in price of construction material. The deadline for its completion was extended to 2014.