Next week: Govt to inaugurate 50km section of Swat Expressway

Remaining section of the expressway to be completed, opened by Dec 2018

PESHAWAR: The provincial government plans to inaugurate early next week a large section of the Swat Expressway which helps cut down the journey time from Col Sher Khan interchange to the Katlang interchange to just 45 minutes.

This was announced in a statement issued by the K-P Information Department on Friday.  The statement said that a 50 kilometre-long section of the Expressway from Colonel Sher Khan Interchange to Katlang interchange will be opened for traffic on Monday. The remaining 30 kilometres of the Expressway is expected to be completed and opened by December 2018.

The government believes that more than 18,000 vehicles will ply this route on a daily basis.

The government, in its statement, said that it hopes the expressway will prove to be a game-changer for the province, generating not only immediate benefits but will also provide tremendous prospects for development of transport, communication and tourism in the province.

The motorway is being built by the provincial government under the Public-Private Partnership Act 2014 and is expected to cost an estimated Rs38 billion.

When complete, the 81 kilometre-long Expressway will connect the Colonel Sher Khan Interchange on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway to Chakdara, after tunnelling its way through mountains in Palai and Ala Dhand. Around two kilometres of the expressway falls within the vicinity of District Nowshera, another 18 kilometres pass through Swabi, 40 kilometres through Mardan and 21 kilometres in Malakand.

The total width of the expressway will be 80 meters.

The length of the tunnels has been estimated to be about two kilometres. This will help reduce the travel time between Colonel Sher Khan Interchange and Chakdara from two hours to just 45 minutes.

The expressway will be constructed on the pattern of the motorway with as many as four lanes which can be extended to six lanes later as per the need.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2018.