The Karakoram Highway (KKH) is the highest paved international road
in the world. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an elevation of
4,693 meters (15,397 ft) as confirmed by both SRTM and
multiple GPS readings. It connects China's Xinjiang region with Pakistan's Gilgit–Baltistan and Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa regions and also
serves as a popular tourist
attraction. Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it
was constructed, it is also referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the
World."
The Karakoram
Highway is known informally as the KKH,
and — within Pakistan — officially as the N-35;
within China, officially as China
National Highway 314 (G314).
The Karakoram Highway, also known
as the Friendship Highway in China, was built by the governments of Pakistan
and China, it was started in 1959 and was completed in 1979 (open to the public
since 1986) about 810 Pakistanis and about 200 Chinese workers lost their lives, mostly in landslides and falls, while building the highway.
The Chinese workers who died during the construction are buried in the Chinese cemetery in Gilgit. The route
of the KKH traces one of the many paths of the ancient Silk Road.
On the
Pakistani side, the road was constructed by FWO (Frontier Works Organisation),
employing the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. Recently, the
Engineer-in-Chief's Branch of the Pakistani Army has completed a project
documenting the history of the highway. A book 'History of Karakoram Highway'
has been written by Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Mumtaz Khalid. It is in two
volumes. In the first volume the author discusses the land and the people, the
pre-historic communication system in the Northern Areas, the need for having an
all-weather road link with Gilgit and the construction of Indus Valley Road.
The second volume records events leading to conversion of Indus Valley Road to
Karakoram Highway, the difficulties in its construction and the role of
Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers and the Chinese counterparts in its
construction.
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