By Zahiruddin
CHITRAL: The speakers in the one-day seminar on ‘prospects of the promotion of trade and tourism in the post-Lowari tunnel Chitral’ held here on Thursday said that both the sectors of trade and tourism had a great potential to bring about progress and prosperity in the area thereby raising the standard of living of the hitherto poor and indigent people who formed majority of the area.
Held under the auspices of district government, the seminar was addressed by district nazim Maghfirat Shah, Chitral DC Khurshid Alam Mehsud,former MNA from Chitral Shahzada Iftikharuddin and PTI’s district president Abdul Latif.
They said that after the completion of Lowari tunnel, the district is no more an isolated geograhpical area remaining disconnected from the rest of the country for five months of the year and new approaches in the realms of commerce, industry and tourism are required in the new scenario.
They said that promotion of tourism was the joint responsibility of the local people and the government and both of them must realize, earmark and fulfill their respective responsiblities ardently.
The speakers said that the major duty of the government was to construct the roads to the present tourist resorts of Garam Chashma and Kalash valleys while explore scores of new ones and connect them to the other parts of the district which are until now obscure even to the locals due to inaccessiblity.
They named Baroghil, Karimabad, Madak Lusht, Gobor, Oveer, Golen, Terich, Khot and Rech as the proposed tourist resorts which can be prove ‘paradize of tourists’ by only providing them with proper roads.
They said that on the part of the local people, they should strive to develop the tourism into a full-fledged industry and invest in it whole heartedly and adopt ways and means to lure the tourists into the area while hospitable attitude and behaviour of the residents also cast a pleasant affect.
They asked the tourism department to go beyond making some cosmetic measures of issuing advertising the events of Shandur or Kalash festivals in the media but it should come forward with revolutionary measures to promote tourism and exploit the potential to its full.
The speakers said that the completion of Lowari tunnel had created an environment of competition in which only the ‘fittest’ can survive and to cope with this challenge, the traders community should come forward with measures commensurate the milieau.
They said that the completion of the Lowari tunnel has also provided opportunities to the local traders who can seek markets for the local products in different parts of the country which was not possible in the past while local industries can be introduced and boosted.
They said that the prosposal of making Chitral an alternate route for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) can prove a game changer like the Lowari tunnel project and it will further broaden the base of commerce and industry in the area.
