Work on Pakistan’s US$130M Kohat road tunnel has stopped indefinitely following US bombing raids in neighbouring Afghanistan as reprisals for the 11 September terrorist attacks.
Japanese contractor, Taisei Corporation has moved its six project management staff to Islamabad. They will return to Japan if the Japanese Embassy issues an evacuation order.
Taisei was well on the way to completing the scheme, several months early. The tunnel is in a strategic position close to the Afghan border and concerns that the highway could be used for military as well as trade purposes had led the Japanese funding agencies to delay a financing agreement for the tunnel.
