If tourism is the promise, roads are the contract. The federal government is moving to federalise seven major roads in Gilgit-Baltistan spanning 464 kilometres, with the National Highway Authority (NHA) proposed to build, widen, rehabilitate, and maintain them after federal cabinet approval — according to the Associated Press of Pakistan, Bloom Pakistan, and The Public.
The seven corridors
Reporting lists the package as:
- Astore–Chilim Chowki
- Deosai–Skardu
- Skardu–Khaplu
- Skardu–Shigar
- KKH–Naltar–Satrangi Lake
- Thalichi–Astore–Rattu–Shounter
- Gorikot–Shagarthang–Skardu
The last two — Thalichi–Astore–Rattu–Shounter and Gorikot–Shagarthang–Skardu — are already under construction, accounts say. The rest would join a federal build-and-rehab pipeline meant to smooth travel between valleys that brochures make look closer than a shoulder-season jeep ride.
Paperwork still in motion
The Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet has approved the plan, and an MoU with NHA is part of the pathway described in coverage. Federal cabinet approval was still the outstanding stamp in reports dated 8 September 2026. Until that lands, 464 km is policy with momentum — not yet a full work order on every kilometre.
For GB residents, the sequence matters: local cabinet first, NHA instrument next, federal cabinet after. Tourism seasons do not wait for files; contractors usually do.
Why these kilometres
Naltar’s lakes, Deosai’s plateau, Khaplu’s fort towns, Shigar’s orchards, Astore’s approach to higher ground — the listed roads are the arteries behind the postcard. When mud takes a shoulder or a culvert fails, a cancelled booking can start as a closed stretch two districts away.
Federal takeover does not magically grade a mountain. It does shift who owns the maintenance headache and which budget line hears about it. For a region that lives between glacier and itinerary, that shift is the story as much as any ribbon-cutting later.