The overall situation with respect to economic infrastructure and communication is not satisfactory. The roads are inadequate, most are shingled and the black topped roads, except in and around Ziarat town, are not in good condition. Transport facilities are also inadequate. However, improvement is taking place in respect of roads, transport, electricity, potable water service, banking etc. Still much more needs to be done.

The total length of roads is 297.60 km, out of which only 72.50 km are black topped and the rest is shingled. The 16 km shingle part of Quetta - Ziarat road is being black topped. All roads are provincial roads.

Shingle part of the road to Ziarat.

There is only one transport company in Ziarat town. This company operates eight vehicles between Ziarat - Quetta and two between Ziarat town and valleys in the district. Buses and wagons of other companies, based outside the district, ply between Quetta - Ziarat. Several of these busses pass through Ziarat town and carry passengers to other places in the district.

In the summer season numerous vehicle can be seen on Quetta - Ziarat road and in Ziarat town. Most of these are private and many are chartered vehicles. The public transport service picks up only a small fraction of the tourists and is considered wholly inadequate to cater to local peoples daily needs. The worst affected are those who live in remote valleys. Among them, the women are hit worst. Many women in labour die due to the lack of transport facilities in the valley, as they cannot be taken in time, and comfortably, to hospital if problems develop during pregnancy.

No rail or air service is available in the district.

Authentic statistics are not available regarding the number of radio and television sets in the district. Radios/ transistors are said to be found in a good number all over the district. One can also see a large number of ordinary and dish antennas in Ziarat town and the big rural and semi-urban settlements along Quetta - Ziarat road. Although it is not known how many households have TV sets, there are strong indications that the number of TV sets is increasing fast in the district.

Telecommunication facilities are concentrated in Ziarat town and the settlements along Quetta - Ziarat roads. The number of telephone connections is said to be approximately 400 and it is increasing every year. There is only one PCO in Ziarat town. A few shops and hotels, however, provide telephone facility to their customers.

 Government officials and people in the district are not satisfied with telecommunication facilities. It is difficult to secure a telephone connection. There is no public PCO with direct dialling facility. If one wants to book a long distance call then it has to be booked through the exchange at Sibi.

 Similarly, telephone subscribers have to go outside Ziarat to get their telephone bills corrected if there is some error or discrepancy. It should be noted that it is now more than a decade ago that Ziarat was separated from Sibi and made a district.

There are three branches of commercial banks, and one of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADBP) of Pakistan. All of these branches are located in Ziarat town. The ADBP is performing fairly well. The service of lending is rising and the recovery rate is good, according to the ADBP Manager. The borrowers are mostly fruit orchard owners. No special facilities are available to provide loans to women.

There are four grid stations in the district. The number of electricity consumers is: domestic 1,572, commercial 157, agricultural 19, industrial 2. The total consumers are 1,750. The grid stations are at Ziarat town, Zindra, Kawas and Katch Bazar. In all, 33 villages are electrified. As stated above, 1,750 electricity connections have been given till 1995-96 as compared with the corresponding figure of 1,564 in 1992-93. The progress is rather slow. There are at least 2 scheduled electricity-off periods a day, each lasting several hours. The overall situation with respect to electricity supply is thus not satisfactory.

Gas cylinders are used both for cooking and lighting. Government officials and inhabitants have recommended that the Sui gas pipe line should be extended up to Ziarat town. This will greatly improve the quality of life in the district and reduce the pressure on the forest for supply of fuel wood.

There are thirteen (government) rest houses in Ziarat town. Besides, there are six private hotels. There is also a PTDC Motel. The rest houses and the PTDC Motel have reasonable to good accommodation. Most of the private hotels are, however, in poor shape. A number of unregistered private guest houses are also found in Ziarat town. On the whole, the hotel/rest house situation is not satisfactory. The private hotels are mostly dirty and too expensive for the kind of service they provide. A little more investment in the private and public sector establishments can make them much more comfortable.

The overall state of economic infrastructure is not satisfactory. The district needs more and better all-weather roads, more electricity, better transport facilities, and also more accommodation facilities - rest houses/hotels, for visitors/tourists. While more money needs to be ploughed into these services, the standard of management - especially of tourists - oriented services particularly needs to be improved.

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