Pakistan-Italy friendship bridge opens in Chitral

A suspension bridge was inaugurated in district Chitral’s Khairabad village on Sunday, aimed at solving the problem of rural isolation that has been affecting the community especially during the time of heavy rainfall.

“Residents were deprived of crucial socio-economic opportunities because of ad- verse conditions and limited mobility. The bridge has been constructed in partnership with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) and the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) under the Programme for Poverty Reduction (PPR) by an Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) Pakistan,” according to an official statement.

Khairabad is com- prised of five sub-villages (KhaiabadKhas, ThokJal, Dhap, Junali, Camp) while there are three more connected villages of Kol, Wardhap and WardhapPayeen. More than 450 households of Khairabad, Kol, Camp, WardhapPayeen will directly benefit from the development.

Village Khairabad in Union Council Drosh 1 has around 450 households, however, after recent flash floods, the community’s connection to main centres were cut off. With the construction of ‘Jeepable Bridge’ in the village, accessibility has been improved for the residents.

Director AICS, Pakistan Emanuela Benini was pleased that the infrastructure has been given the name ‘Pak-Italy Friendship Bridge’. She said: “The AICS aspires to lay the stone for a strong develop- mental network in Pakistan and this bridge is the first step towards it. The bridge will en- able the local community to have better access to health and educational facilities just like other communities in the district.”

Shams Badruddin, the group head infrastructure for PPAF, said that such developmental projects would allow the local community to have easier ac- cess to health and educational facilities in Chitral that can lead to better socio economic conditions in the region.