Lack of facilities irks tourists visiting Kalam Valley

KALAM, Swat: It was widely believed that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government might have learnt from the past and could have made better arrangements this time for the tourists coming to Swat from across the country during Eid holidays but sadly it didn’t happen and thousands of people suffered due to mismanagement and poor infrastructure.

A high-level meeting was held before Eid wherein the top government functionaries had decided to facilitate the tourists visiting tourist destinations in the province. Every year, particularly on Eid festivals, hundreds of thousands of people come to the hilly areas of Swat, Kumrat in Upper Dir and Kaghan and Naran in Mansehra districts and every year they have to suffer mostly due to the mismanagement, poor traffic management plan and lack of coordination among relevant government departments.

The Swat Expressway and the extension of the motorway to Sindh had shortened the distance between Swat and downtowns. Similarly, the Hazara Motorway has reduced the hours-long journey to the famous tourist spots in Kaghan and Naran.

These are the reasons that a huge number of tourists have visited these places in recent years. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and its central leadership have always proudly shared pictures of eye-catching tourist attractions in Swat, Kumrat and Naran, but they never bothered to take practical steps to promote tourism.

Despite the fact that the province has huge potential for tourism, neither the PTI government in the centre nor in the province bothered to build roads and bridges in these areas. Swat has dozens of tourist attractions but access is a major issue.

Kalam valley itself is the hub of tourism as it has many venues for the tourists to visit. The local people are exploring new places to attract tourists. Over the years, the tourists have faced difficulty in visiting Kalam valley due to the dilapidated Bahrain-Kalam road.

The then government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had allocated Rs10 billion fund for the Bahrain-Kalam road. The contract was allotted to three contractors.

The construction work on Bahrain-Kalam road was completed in 2018, but the government failed to spend the remaining allotted amount of Rs180 million for building the remaining 13 bridges on the main road.

It is because of these incomplete bridges that caused problems to the tourists. The distance between Bahrain and Kalam is 35 kilometres and the road is in good condition but it took the tourists five to six hours to reach Kalam. Normally it takes an hour.

The incomplete bridges is a never-ending issue and has caused inconvenience to the tourists. A government official wishing not to be named told The News he had left Islamabad at 11am along with his family and it took 16 hours to arrive in Kalam.

“By 4pm on Thursday I was in Bahrain but don’t ask me what happened next. There was no traffic police, no emergency service and even no government official available for help,” he said.

“I delayed my trip to Kalam by one day. I thought there would be no rush but it seemed the entire country was on the way to Kalam,” he recalled. He said he was thankful to the hotel management that provided him a room that he had already booked and they didn’t charge extra money for it.

“They provided us with delicious food at 2:30 am and tea,” the tourist remarked. He was among thousands of tourists who had similar stories to tell about their journey between Bahrain and Kalam.

One Hafeezur Rahman hailing from Darra Adamkhel also visited Kalam valley along with his cousins. He also complained about “poor arrangements” made by the government.

“Kalam is a lovely place considering its beauty, but the government needs to facilitate the tourists by building the bridges,” he said. The police in Kalam did an excellent job by maintaining order, managing traffic as well as politely providing useful information to the tourists.

An assistant sub-inspector was asked by a passerby to issue tickets to unruly drivers but he smiled and replied by saying “they are our guests and guests are not fined”. The tourists from Punjab and Sindh appreciated the Swat police in general and Kalam in particular for being cooperative.

Amir Muqam, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial head and Adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said he had directed the National Highways Authority (NHA) to start work on the remaining 13 bridges on Kalam-Bahrain road.

It is believed that a tussle between Amir Muqam and former federal minister for communications Murad Saeed had delayed completion of the bridges. Amir Muqam is a contractor and his construction firm was allotted the project to build the bridges on Bahrain-Kalam road, which he alleged was cancelled by Murad Saeed at that time.

The elders and residents in Kalam had once announced launching agitation outside the Parliament House in Islamabad and lodging an FIR against Murad Saeed for ‘causing the delays.’

The only available facility in the picturesque valley is the uninterrupted electricity. One would like to thank the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP), a non-governmental organisation, for providing electricity to the people of Kalam valley as well as all the hotels.

Kalam didn’t have a power supply when the flash foods washed away in 2010 the powerhouse established by the Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation. The SRSP came forward and restored power supply to the valley and rebuilt the entire powerhouse. It is also facing a number of problems and the government has yet to recognise its contribution and help resolve the issues it has been facing.

The SRSP management is reportedly tired of this extra burden but Wapda has not been able to come and take the responsibility. Earlier, when the SRSP had not restored power supply, Kalam didn’t have any attraction for the tourists and the hotels used generators for lighting during nighttime.