Loralai district is linked by road to the east with Punjab Province and to the west with Provincial Capital Quetta. To the north it is linked with Killa Saifullah district and to the south with Sibi district, but the road to Sibi is not a proper road. There is no air or railway link with the district headquarters Loralai. Usually the coaches, buses, wagons, trucks and other vehicles come to the district via Killa Saifullah. There is no network of metalled roads in the district. In the absence of farm-to- market roads, livestock and agriculture development are hindered. Similarly other sectors suffer from the lack of infrastructure. The costs of construction of even a fair weather shingle road are high.

The total length of the black topped roads in the district is 330 km. Out of this, 138 km are provincial roads and 142 km are national highway roads. The remaining 50 km was constructed under an Asian Development Bank scheme consisting of farm-to-market roads. Shingle roads have a total length of 209 km, out of which 80 km has been constructed by the Balochistan Development Authority.

Some 188 km of black top road is maintained by the provincial government whereas the national highway roads (142 km) are maintained by the federal government.⁵⁸ The maintenance of the shingle roads is also the responsibility of the provincial government. Contribution to construction and maintenance by the community is almost negligible. Due to a general lack of funds, roads are not maintained properly. The national highway roads are relatively better maintained.

Source: Executive Engineer B&R Loralai

The heavy vehicles are mostly registered. Light ones are usually without registration. These illegally imported cars and motorcycles are brought from Afghanistan. The Department of Excise and Taxation is responsible for collection of revenue through registration. It seems that the department does not fulfil its responsibility properly.

Sources: Excise and Taxation Department Loralai; Development Statistics BoS, GoB.

There is no railway and no airport in the district. However Quetta is linked with Zhob (Zhob district) by regular PIA flights. There are 2 (emergency) airstrips in the district.

Although a radio station has been established at Loralai, it is not fully operational yet. The people listen to the BBC and programmes broadcasted from the Quetta Radio Station. There is no television station at Loralai, but a booster station is operational; however, the programmes can be watched in Loralai town only. In other parts of the district, television programmes can only been seen through dish antennas. In the absence of conventional coverage through PTV, the use of dish antennas is increasing. Programmes in local languages either through television or radio are beneficial for the people in raising awareness, specially in the field of agriculture, health and education.

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) has established a network of telephone connections in the district. There are 1,200 lines of auto exchange and 1,000 lines of digital exchange in Loralai district. Furthermore, there are 400 lines through containers (small exchanges) in Sanjawi area and 600 lines in Duki area of District Loralai. There is one divisional telegraph office with two customer services at Loralai. There are also 23 public call offices which are privately owned. There are more than 20 fax services installed in the district, with one customer service providing fax facilities to the public.

There are six post offices in the district; 4 in Loralai town, one in Duki and one in Sinjavi. The number of letter boxes in the district is 12. There is no urgent mail service available at the post offices. However three private courier services namely Leopard, SMS, and TCS are working in the district.

The National Bank has three branches at Loralai and Duki. The other commercial banks are Habib Bank (in Duki and Sinjavi). The Agricultural Development Bank has its branches at Loralai and Duki. No other branches of Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) are available in the district. The branches of National Bank have not given any agricultural loans since 1-1-1991, due to outstanding loans amounting to Rs.601,000/-. They could recover only Rs.11,000/- so far⁵⁹. However the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP) has made a disbursement of Rs.43.48 million in 1991 in Loralai and Duki area. The recovery in the same period was Rs.13.606 million. An amount of Rs.5.96 million has been disbursed in 1996, while recovery in the same period was Rs.8.47 million in Loralai and Duki area⁶⁰. The details are given in annex (12).

There is no natural gas pipeline for the supply of gas in the district. The natural gas pipeline which was brought from Sui to Quetta and Pishin will be extended to Ziarat only. The cost of extending the pipeline to Loralai will be exorbitant and is presently not viable. However, gas could be supplied at a cheaper rate through gas cylinders. Only 30% of the population uses liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in urban areas for lighting and cooking. Only 10% of the rural population uses LPG for lighting in rural areas.

Electricity is available through the Sibi transmission as well as Rakhni Mekhtar lines. A 132 Kva transmission line passes through Sibi, Harnai and Shahrag to Loralai. Another 132 Kva transmission line passes through Rakhni, Makhtar to Loralai. There is a grid station at Loralai. There are three feeders in the district; at Loralai city, Loralai Cantonment and Duki.

The number of consumers was 5,572 domestic, 1,222 commercial, 450 agricultural and 108 industrial in the year 1992-93, supplied through the Loralai grid station. The number of domestic consumers increased to 7,566, commercial 1,383, agricultural 507 and industrial to 117 in 1995-96. The total number of villages electrified in the district was 23 in 1992-93, and increased to 37 in 1993-94, 44 in 1994-95, and to 51 in 1995-96⁶¹ (which is about 6% of all the villages in the district).

There are 4 rest houses for the district administration; at Loralai, Sanjavi, Chotare and Chinjan. The Irrigation Department owns 2 rest houses (at Loralai & Duki). B&R has a rest house at Loralai. Besides there is a rest house of the Forest Department, two for the Livestock Department and one for Minor Irrigation. A further two rest houses are owned by the Loralai Scouts. The Tourism Department has also constructed a rest house at Loralai⁶². All these rest houses are constructed by government, no private rest houses are available in the district apart from a few private hotels of low standards.

The overall condition of the infrastructure is not good. The road condition, except for the national highway, is not satisfactory. Road maintenance is not taken care of properly. Lack of resources at the provincial level is the main impediment for development of infrastructure. The funds generated by the local bodies are negligible. Although there is a considerable demand for gas, water, and other utilities, the availability is very limited. The district is located far away from the main gas pipeline and therefore cannot be supplied with natural gas.

The district is also not connected by railway and airways. The communication of the district is hindered by the lack of infrastructure. Since the PTV network is not available in the whole district and only the wealthy people can have access to dish antenna, the majority of the population cannot watch the PTV programmes outside Loralai town.

Due to the low recovery rate, agricultural loans are not provided on easy terms by ADPB and National Bank of Pakistan. There seems to be a threshold between the people and the government, causing people not to take part actively in government sponsored development activities. Considerable development and improvement efforts are needed to raise the standard of living of the people in the district.

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