Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sought a report on the long-awaited Leepa Tunnel project and directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to prepare its PC-I for approval, raising hopes of progress on a scheme aimed at providing all-weather access to the strategically located valley, a PML-N leader said on Tuesday.
Residents of the valley have long been demanding the construction of a tunnel from Reshian to ensure year-round connectivity and facilitate the movement of residents, patients and goods.
They have also staged several protest demonstrations to press for the construction of the tunnel to alleviate their hardships, with PPP leader Shaukat Javed Mir among the key organisers.
Syed Mukhtar Gillani, a PML-N leader from Leepa Valley, told journalists that the development came after he raised the issue before PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif during a meeting of party candidates for the upcoming AJK elections in Lahore on Friday.
He said Nawaz Sharif had asked him about travel conditions to Leepa Valley, to which he replied that although the PML-N government had constructed a better road network, the area continued to remain cut off during winters owing to heavy snowfall.
According to Mr Gillani, Nawaz Sharif subsequently directed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure an early resolution of the longstanding issue.
He said officials from the Prime Minister’s Office later contacted him and sought details of the proposed tunnel project, after which he obtained recommendations and related documents from the AJK Planning and Development Department and submitted them to the federal authorities on Tuesday.
Mr Gillani said he had subsequently been informed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the NHA to prepare the PC-I of the proposed project and seek its formal approval.
“We are personally grateful to Nawaz Sharif for paving the way for resolving this longstanding issue,” he said, adding that he remained in contact with NHA officials and was hopeful that the dream of the Leepa Tunnel would now become a reality.
The project was first announced by Shehbaz Sharif during an election rally in Leepa in June 2011 when he was chief minister of Punjab. Later, after the PML-N came to power at the Centre in 2013, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif endorsed the initiative.
Subsequently, the Executive Board of the National Highway Authority approved the PC-I for construction of a 3.79-kilometre tunnel along with realignment of the access road in its 239th meeting held in Islamabad in September 2014.
The project was later cleared by the Central Development Working Party at an estimated cost of Rs7.3 billion. According to the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs’ performance report (2013–15), Rs50 million were also earmarked under the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2014–15.
However, the project could not make headway in subsequent years.
Tariq Naqash
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