Afridi breaks ground on Rs6.2b flyover

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Saturday laid the foundation stone for a Level-II flyover at the Ring Road-GT Road intersection, marking the latest phase of an ambitious drive to overhaul the provincial capital's crumbling traffic infrastructure.

The project, estimated to cost Rs6.2 billion, includes a 640-metre-long, two-lane dual-carriageway flyover and the construction of a 4.5-kilometre road. Officials said the interchange is designed to ease chronic congestion at one of Peshawar's busiest junctions, where heavy commercial traffic from the Grand Trunk Road meets the city's orbital route.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the chief minister said the flyover was of critical importance to Peshawar's urban mobility and signalled that his government intended to sustain a rapid tempo of development across the city.

"Work on the Rs200 billion Peshawar Revitalisation Plan is progressing at pace," Afridi told participants. "The inauguration of the Outer Ring Road project will also take place soon."

The revitalisation plan, unveiled earlier this year, bundles road, drainage, transport and public-space upgrades under a single financing framework. Officials describe it as the largest coordinated investment in Peshawar's civic infrastructure in decades.