File 2976/1916 Pt 1 'Persia Bunder-Abbas-Kerman telegraph and road' [‎297v] (298/452)

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10
The hills formmg the sides of ^ Tang-i-Zindan^ar^
and out UP hy nu_ dry torrent
bedS 8 From this description of the 12i miles from the month of the Tang-i-
Zmdan to the Sar-i-Sikh, I think it is evident that according to m y mstruc-
tions
fai No motor car could be dragged along this route m its present
V ' state nor could it be quicklv adapted for this purpose owing
to the work necessar y to clear the obstructions which occur
in seven places in the gorge itself and in making a road up the
half mile of spur to the Sar-i-Sikh. _
All local information points to the routes ma Klianu on
the east and the Tang-i-Zagh on the west as much better
routes through which in the past wheeled vehicles actually have
been dragged so that a motor could probably he dragged up
those routes without anything approaching the work necessary
in the Tang-i-Zindan.
(b) No improvement or modification of this Tang-i-Zindan portion
can be suggested to render it generally usable by occasional
cars as the whole route till the Taug-i-Zindan is left at 11 miles
lies in the middle of the actual nallah bed, so that any improve
ments made in the nallah bed such as causeways removal of
rocks to one side, etc., would be absolutely nullified by the firs
flood that came sweeping down the gorge which would bring
the track at once back to its previous state. During the cold
weather when rain may be expected at any time the passage
of the gorge is apt to he dangerous as floods come down -nitliout
warning and so suddenly that it is difficult for caravans to escape
except lit a few open spaces.
I had a very good view from the summit of the Sar-i-Sikh 0Tf ? the
each side of the gorge, and I consider that no development is possible to either
side for raking a road on a high level any distance away fr ° m gor ^ h 0Illy
whole country is broken and cut up by ravines in every direction. J
remaining alternative, therefore, would be a road cut out of the side of. tte
<-or»e above high flood level of which the cost would be absolut ly p ,
for a road meant only to take occasional cars and even for a permanent
for motor lorry traffic. f
My opinion, as to the difficulties of the Tang-i-Zindan, agrees with that
the railway engineers who worked out an estimate for taking a .™ e , og
this gorge from Minab to Buhramabad—a distance of over mi (p ^
to 31, Karachi Extension Railway Survey, Volume III of 19io). T
cost estimated by them for earthwork and bridging only, along 3UU mu
this length, worked out at R73,000 a mile, whilst for the i2J mite otjue
Tang-i-Zindan the estimate came to six lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a mile or ( \
much as the average for the remaining length, which speaks tor Use • »
also reported that no development was possible on either side anc
temporary line could be built through the gorge. The railway had ^
gradient through the gorge of 1 in 25, whilst for the road it has been g
1 in 10 , but in working along the sides of a gorge where no deve p
possible the road would probably follow practically the same line as
way, and the only saving would be in shallower cuttings, smaller » j
avoidance of tunnels. Putting the cost of the road as low as ^
railway estimate, it works out at a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a mile for ear
bridging alone or 12 ^ lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees for the whole gorge. ^
If this was absolutely the only practicable route from Bunder -
Kerman, of course any expense necessary for the construction ot the v via
have to be put up with, but as there are two other fairly direct
the Tang-i-Zagh, route 111, and via Khanu, route 111 , and 0116 ind H J better
'Ripenn. route 139. all of which local information points to as bem 0