ISLAMABAD, April 9 (APP): National Highway Authority (NHA) has been attaching top priority to timely completion of road infrastructure development schemes undertaken in the province of Khyber Pakhtoonkhaw.
An official source told APP on Sunday that in KPK work on Hassanabdal-Mansehra Expressway also known as Hazara Motorway which forms part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is in full swing.
He said completion of the project would bring about progress and prosperity in the area. The project, he said, would reduce to travel time from Rawalpindi/Islamabad to Mansehra by more than an hour.
He said that road project of Attaabad Barrier Lake (N-35) had been successfully completed. A 24-kilometre stretch of KKH, which was constructed by China at a cost of Rs 27.5 billion alongside the lake in Hunza Valley,included five seven-kilometre-long Pak-China Friendship Tunnels, two big and 78 small bridges.
He said work on Takht Bhai railway flyover on Nowshehra-Chitral Highway has been nearly completed. Similarly much-delayed Lowari Tunnel project would be completed this year.
Moreover, he said work on Thakot-Raikot section of (N-35, 147 km), Nowshera-Chakdara-Dir (N-45) and Peshawar Northern Bypass was going on smoothly.
He said that these schemes, on completion, would not only fulfill the primary objective of establishing an efficient transport and communication network but also enhance the national harmony through a qualitative change in the socio-economic condition of the people of the province, he added.
He said that allocations for NHA’s KPK in the public sector development programme (PSDP) of the current fiscal year spoke volumes about the priority being attached by the government to the KPP raod projects. He said for construction of Hakla-Mianwali-DI Khan Highway to be built as part of CPEC Rs 10,000 million had been allocated.
Rs 2,000 million have been allocated for rehabilitation of DI Khan-Mughalkot section of N-50. He said Rs 10,000 million had been allocated for land acquisition and construction of western alignment and other C-PEP projects.
For northern alignment of the CPEC, he said Rs 2,300 million had been allocated for Burhan-Havelian Expressway. For 120 km construction of Thakot-Havelian section of E-35, Rs 20,500 million have been allocated while for land acquisition of the project Rs 5,000 million have been earmarked.
He said for Nowshehra-Chitral Highway (Takht Bhai Flyover) Rs 200 million had been allocated. For Lowari Tunnel, Rs 2,000 million have been allocated and Rs 1,000 million have been earmarked for Peshawar Northern Bypass.
Moreover, he said the NHA had spent Rs 3.477 billion approximately on maintenance of roads in Khyber Pakhunkhwa under Annual Maintenance Plan (AMP) in past two years.
He said in financial year 2013-14, Rs 1.378 billion were spent in KPK,while in fiscal year 2014-15, Rs 2.099 billion were spent. He said for rehabilitation of NHA Highways Network damaged during floods 2010, Rs 500 million had been allocated in the current fiscal year.
In the roads being rehabilitated under this project, Madyan-Kalam section of Chakdara-Kalam Highway (N-95), Ramak-DI Khan-Kohat-Peshawar section of Indus Highway (N-55), and Naran-Jalkhad-Chilas section of Mansehra-Chilas Highway (N-15) fall in KPK.
