Mahmood wants 2nd phase of Swat Motorway fast-tracked

Calls for meeting between federal, provincial officials to resolve modalities on starting work

PESHAWAR: The provincial chief executive on Tuesday directed the relevant officials to convene a meeting of federal and provincial authorities to thrash out the means to kick-start work on the second phase of the Swat Motorway.

This was directed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan while chairing a meeting regarding Swat Motorway Phase-II on Tuesday.

Under the second phase of the project, an 80-kilometre-long section of the motorway will be built to connect Chakdara to Fatehpur. This section will include nine interchanges at Chakdara, Shamozai, Barikot, Mingora, Kanju, Malam Jabba, Sher Palam, Matta Khwazakhela and Madayan Fatahpur Interchange.

The motorway will be a four-lane-wide highway with the possibility of extending it to six lanes and will have eight bridges.

This phase of the project is estimated to cost around Rs37 billion with an additional Rs20.5 billion required for procuring the land necessary to build it.

Mahmood said that the project will help develop communications routes throughout the province to provide a conducive environment for investors while connecting far-flung areas of the province with major communications routes and network.

The chief minister added that the highway will also help make the province a hub for national and international tourists. He underlined the need to initiate and complete this project on a fast-track basis, noting that extension routes will boost economic activities and create employment opportunities for local population located along its route by introducing new tourist sites near the proposed interchanges.

The meeting was told that at the moment, local roads within the Swat Valley and other roads located on both sides of the river have become bottlenecked due to the rising volume of traffic owing to better commuting conduits in other parts of the province.

The government estimates that once complete, more than 20,000 vehicles will be able to use this route daily. The areas which stand the most to benefit from this include Shamozai, Parrai, Dadhara, Ningolai, Shakardhara, Baidara, Drushkhela, Bazakhela, Asharai, Kalakot, Baghderi, Shin, Farhatabad, Kotanai, Ghaskor and Manyar.

Paramedic issues

In a separate meeting on Monday, Mahmood had assured the resolution of issues faced by paramedics in Swat.

Speaking to representatives of paramedics from the district at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar on Monday, Mahmood termed paramedics as vital to ensuring efficient delivery of healthcare services.

In this regard, he said that health sector employees have been given incentives, and in the future, every possible assistance which will be extended as per the resources available.

However, Mahmood made it clear that the first and ultimate goal of all government initiatives is to provide relief to the marginalized community, including the provision of healthcare services.

The delegation briefed the chief minister about their demands and the issues they were facing.

Mahmood directed the provincial health department to take pragmatic measures for the timely resolution of problems in consultation with paramedics. He added that they were addressing the shortage of manpower in all the state-run hospitals of the province on a priority basis, including the newly merged tribal districts.

Adviser to the Chief Minister on Merged Districts Ajmal Wazir, Additional Health Secretary Kaleem Baloch and other concerned officials were also present on the occasion. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2019.