Transportation upgradation: Southern bypass facelift to ease traffic congestion

After completion of the project Pak-Afghan trade will increase manifold.

PESHAWAR: Southern bypass (Ring Road) rehabilitation and extension will cost Rs3 billion and will be completed in two years. After completion of the project, the provincial government hopes, it will reduce traffic congestion on the GT (Grand Trunk) Road.

“It will not only ease traffic congestion on GT Road but also increase trade and commerce activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan manifolds,” said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti while speaking at the ground breaking ceremony of the project at Bagh-i-Naran Hayatabad on Wednesday.

The project will be completed in two years at an estimated cost of Rs3 billion, with $25million US grant. It will benefit 200,000 people.

Service roads, a sanitation project and 4.5 kilometres expressway from Achinee Khwar to Frontier Road is also part of this mega project.

The chief minister said that heavy vehicles will not enter Hayatabad and pass through the expressway.

Solar-powered lights will be installed on the expressway and special directives have been issued for timely completion of the project.

Chief Minister Hoti said it was a “gift from the US government for the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and thanked President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for making this dream into reality.”

He said the infrastructure of the province was badly damaged by the floods and terrorism.

He urged the world community to fulfil their pledges for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the destroyed infrastructure.

The chief minister said K-P’s atmosphere was ideal for investment and urged the international community to take full advantage of the facilities and potential of the province and make investments.

Donors had expressed full confidence in the K-P Government as evident from the US grant for this mega project, he maintained.

The provincial government, he said, is taking keen interest in two important projects, one is Chashma Lift Irrigation Canal and the other is a hydel power project.

Negotiations are being held with the US and donor agencies for the required funding. As many as 300,000 acres of land would be irrigated by the Chashma Lift Irrigation Canal and electrical supply problems would also be addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2011.