Security problem delaying project: Torkham-Jalalabad Highway
By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Lack of security to workers of the National Highway Authority (NHA) is causing hindrance in the reconstruction of 75-km Torkham-Jalalabad Highway
which is the main land route for trade between the two neighbouring countries, a source in the authority told Dawn on Sunday.
The source said militants in Afghanistan had recently attacked an office of the NLC, and NLC guards killed two attackers in retaliation. The source said militants often laid mines under the road hampering the development work.
"Although the governor of Kandahar, Haji Din Muhammad, has provided his own security guards to Pakistani workers engaged in the reconstruction of the highway, many steps are to be taken by the Afghan government to provide fool-proof security to them," the source said.
Another problem the NLC was facing there was that the Afghan government had not allowed the cutting of roadside trees, which was delaying the project. "Due to snowfall and heavy winds, branches of trees break and fall on the road causing traffic congestion," the source said.
The source said the daily volume of vehicular traffic on the under construction highway was 15,000 vehicles, that was also creating hurdle in the pace of construction work.
The reconstruction of Torkhum-Jalalabad Highway was started in February 2004 with an estimated cost of Rs1 billion with monetary assistance of Pakistan. The road is scheduled to be completed by August this year.
The NLC firm, ECO West Corporation International, was executing the project while the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) is serving as a consultant body.
The road had been damaged in the US-Afghanistan war. Now the travelling time from Torkhum to Jalalabad is stated to be 1.45 hours, but its re-construction would help reduce the time to 45 minutes, the source said.
