One stretch of the highway has been completed, while the remaining is expected to be finished in five phases at an estimated cost of $67 million. PHOTO: ABUZAR AFRIDI
The construction of a nine-kilometre (km) stretch of road has been completed on the Peshawar-Torkham Highway, leaving it open for all traffic.
Officials of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) told The Express Tribune on Saturday at Jamrud Fort that the construction of the 9km road from Karkhano Market to Jamrud was completed with the financial assistance of USAID. Work is currently in progress on the remaining 45km extending from Peshawar to Torkham, which will be completed in five phases.
According to the FWO officials, this road will be constructed at an estimated cost of $67 million which will be spent with the cooperation of the FATA Secretariat and National Highways Authority (NHA).
Major Hussainullah, an official of the FWO, shared that the construction of roughly 30km of the Peshawar-Torkham road is ongoing and will be completed in one-and-a-half year. Once this is built, the highway will change the lives of people, said the major. “What is now a four-hour-long journey will be reduced to merely an hour.
“It will also boost trade between the two neighbouring countries – Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
According to Sadiq Afridi, a resident of Jamrud, Khyber Agency, the people of the area are very happy about this route as it proves to be the easiest way to reach Peshawar, “especially when we are taking sick people to a hospital there.”
A resident of Zakha Khel noted that the construction work is in progress at various points from Jamrud to Torkham but the slow pace is causing many problems like traffic jams and dust.
Responding to their complaints, Major Hussain explained that owing to technical problems, construction has been slow at some points along the route but the FWO wants to complete the project by keeping “top standards”.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 20th, 2014.
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@javed: Pls see the picture of what is opened for traffic but still to be asphalted. This is not a wasteful and luxurious motorway built on kickbacks for the rich motorists in Lahore or Islamabad, but a basic and cost-efficient effort that connects the poorest Pakistanis to hospitals, schools and commerce.
Where is the Highway ...??????????