Survey launched for building 589km of roads in K-P

K-P CM seeks JICA’s help in building capacity of farmers

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has launched a survey to design the 589 kilometres of roads which will be built in 17 districts of the province.

This was disclosed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of the provincial government, the Communication and Works Department and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at his office at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat in Peshawar.

Mahmood disclosed that the road network would also include 53 kilometres of roads and five bridges in his native Swat as part of the rehabilitation plan.

It was further disclosed that the government plans to build an agriculture research station in Mingora in collaboration with JICA, he added.

The participants of the meeting were briefed about the plans to improve the network of roads in the rural areas of the province apart from rehabilitation of roads across K-P.

A pre-feasibility report for this project was presented along with the implementation strategy and proposed construction timelines.

The meeting deliberated over the resources required for rehabilitating bridges. In this regard, JICA will work out a mechanism to finalise an agreement for the project so that practical work can start on these projects by September 2019. The roads and bridges to be included in the project have already been identified.

Mahmood assured the support of his administration to quickly start work on projects, including road communication, agriculture development and overall rehabilitation.

Referring to the rehabilitation of bridges in Swat, the K-P chief minister said that the valley had suffered from terrorism and militancy. Hence, the government will facilitate the early rehabilitation of infrastructure there and bring it at par with infrastructure in other areas of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2019.