Work on Pakistan’s $100m Kohat Tunnel is back on track after the Lahore High Court lifted a temporary injunction preventing Japanese contractor Taisei Corporation from continuing work on the project. The decision, which is good news for Taisei and UK consultant Mouchel, which designed and is supervising the Kohat scheme, follows extensive lobbying by the country’s National Highway Authority (NHA) to get the injunction lifted.

The NHA said any delay would lead to claims from both the contractor and consultants and a resulting escalation in the cost of the project.

The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) won an injunction against the company soon after the contract was awarded to Taisei by the NHA at the end of last year. PEC objected to the deal because it said that the Taisei Corporation was not registered with the council and that a foreign company needed Pakistani partners.

The council’s court action was the culmination of a row with the NHA over the entire pre-qualification process for the Kohat Tunnel project. However, high court judge Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, sitting at the Rawalpindi bench of the court, dismissed PEC’s petition and overturned the ban on Taisei. The court reserved judgement, saying it would give the reasons for its decision later.

One of the key reasons for this decision is believed to be that the Kohat project is being 95% financed through a Japanese aid package that ties the cash to the purchase of Japanese goods and services.

The Engineering Council, meanwhile, has pledged to continue with its legal action and plans to appeal to a higher court. These legal problems are the latest to dog the 1.9 km tunnel scheme, which was delayed for several months before work even started over a financing row with the Japanese.

Tokyo-based financing agencies were concerned that the strategic nature of the highway, which links Peshawar with the North West Frontier and Afghanistan, contravened strict Japanese rules which ban cash for projects that could be used for military purposes.

The Japanese government was finally convinced it should finance the project after the Pakistani authorities said that the scheme would bring enormous financial benefits to one of the country’s poorest regions.

Construction of the Kohat Tunnel and road link is due for completion in December 2002.