From May 2022, tourists visiting Attabad Lake and the Hunza River in Pakistan’s mountainous northern areas will be able to ride what tourism promoters say is one of the fastest jet boats in the world, introduced for the first time in Pakistan by an overseas investment group, the Pak Greenland Corporation, to promote adventure tourism.
The purpose-built jet boat arrived in Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), from Turkey early this month and will offer quick trips between the Shishkat and Hussaini Bridge (Passu Cone) in Upper Hunza.
Gilgit-Baltistan is one of the top tourist hotspots in Pakistan and hosts over 10 million foreign and local tourists every year, contributing around Rs 300 million per annum to the local economy, according to GB Invest, a public-private organization that works for investment promotion in the region.
The region is also home to K-2, the second-highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest.
“We will start operations from May this year because still the Attabad Lake is covered with ice and we are waiting for the ice to melt,” Milad Ul
Salman, manager of the Pak Greenland Corporation, told Arab News on Saturday.
“The boat is specially designed to operate in the Hunza River where a high level of sand flows with the water. The boat has a capacity to ferry 22 passengers at a time and will cover a distance of 5-6 kilometers upstream from Shishkat to Passu Cone in 15 minutes.”
The speedboat, with two powerful 12,400 CC engines and advanced safety features, has the ability to move at high speeds in shallow waters in lakes and rivers.
