Dilapidated roads and negligence on the behalf of federal and provincial governments appalling to the tourism industry of NWFP, especially Swat, has devastated the tourism to irreparable extent.
This was said by Ali Shah Khan, NWFP Vice President PML (N) in an interview with PPI here on Sunday. He maintained that road network of Swat, which may also be called 'Switzerland of Pakistan', are in shamble for the last 15 years due to which tourists flow has virtually come to a standstill.
He said that Swat is 'paradise' for domestic and foreign tourists but because of dilapidated roads tourists prefer to stay away from Swat. He maintained that the recent torrential rains further lashed the adverse infrastructure of the area leaving the domestic people and tourists in lurch and adding to the miseries of the masses. Ali shah criticised the provincial and federal government for turning blind eye to the problems.
He observed that if prompt action to redressal of these issues were not taken it would lead to further devastation of the local economy. He stressed on federal and provincial government to take prompt actions for the repairing and widening of swat roads without any further delay, which will go a long way to minimise problems of local people.
Referring to PIA flights to swat he informed that only few flights were operating from Peshawar and Islamabad which remained suspended for almost five years since 2001 till 2005. Recently these flights were restored but again terminated due to non-availability of small airplanes after the PIA's ban of foker flights following the Multan tragedy, he added.