Pakistan is a land of amazing beauty. The geographical variety bestowed on our land has gifted us with the world's loftiest mountains, largest glaciers, placid lakes and sun kissed deserts. However most of it was in the far frontier and inaccessible due to lack of communication infrastructure.
At the time of independence most of our tourism was restricted to a few hill stations like Murree and Swat. The vast expanses of Gilgit Baltisan were approachable through air anly and a tourist could travel only a little nore on the narrow and dangerous jeep tracks.
Opening the Inaccessible North Karakoram Highway (KKH), entrusted to the Frontier Works Organisation was the first initiative by the Government of Pakistan to open up our frontier areas and the successful completion - though with lot of sacrifices, paved way for linking the far flung areas through all-weather motor-able highway.
For the last five decades, the Frontier Works Organisation has remained synonymous with the progress and development of our remote areas. Completion of KKH was followed by a labyrinth of roads in Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Linking the three Valleys The latest in this line is the Mansehra-Naran- JalKhad-Chilas(MNJC) Road that has been built over an old historic path that was popular for traveling to the Northern Areas. The snowcapped Babusar Pass was used for traveling to Chilas, Gilgit and beyond whereas a turn from Jalkhad would lead to Neelum Valley, Azad Kashmir through Nurinar Top and Shardi.
MNJC Road has been hailed not only by the locals of the Kaghan and adjacent valleys but by the score of travelers who enjoy the immense scenic beauty of this area and find their travel distance shortened by 120 km and travel time reduced by nearly
4 hours as an alternate to KKH.
MNJC Road starts from the beautiful valleys of Mansehra, gains height towards the Kaghan Valley, crosses the majestic peaks of Babusar Pass and traverses through the rugged Diamer terrain before joining the Karakoram Highway (KKH) at Chilas.
The 233.5 km road covers 192 km distance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 41.5 km in Gilgit Baltistan, Babusar Pass is the boundary between the two provinces.
The 166 km long River Kunhar runs along the road. It originates from the Lulusar Lake and is fed by the Dudipatlake, Saif-ul-Muluk Lake and glacial waters from Malka Parbat and other peaks, the beautiful riverine scenes make the journey unforgettable.
The Road to Progress
MNJC comes to life from April till October each year due to beautiful green valleys and snow covered mountains. Almost 70% of traffic shifts from KKH to MNJC due to reduced distance, less traveling time and scenic views compared to the Mansehra-Koshistan-Chilas Section of Karakoram Highway. The benefits / impact of the project are assessed as under:
MNJC Road connects the Kaghan, Neelum and Diamer districts that were adjacent but cut off from each other due to lack of access.
Karakoram Highway ahead of Thakot Bridge till Raikot (near Chillas) is dry and rugged while MNJC is replete with natural beauty and is travel friendly. Tourism development is leading to greater economic activity in the entire area thus improving the overall living standards of the local populace. The road is bound to give a boost to local cottage industry including furniture, handicraft and woolen items.
Hotel industry is flourishing and generating employment opportunities. The road attracks a large number of tourists to the scenic regions of Kaghan, Naran, Saif-ul-Malooklake, Lulusar Lake, Ansoo Lake, Lalazar, Babusar Pass, Malka-e-Parbat, Shogran and Makra Hills. The beauty of Northern Area gets a shorter access now and tourists can explore and enjoy the scenic beauty. Development of winter sports such as skiing would attract tourists during snow bound months as well.
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