December 13, 2006	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 21, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: The government has decided to build 10 to 15 steel bridges to provide uninterrupted access to law-enforcement agencies to hunt down terrorists and to curb smuggling in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata).

Official sources told Dawn that the United States will provide all necessary funding to build these bridges which will also facilitate quick and safe transport facilities to passengers, goods, agricultural and mineral products. This will ultimately lead to savings in time and fuel consumption.

The Pakistan Army’s Corps of Engineers will build the bridges by providing all necessary professional, technical, administrative and managerial works in coordination with the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron).

The construction of bridges will be completed in nine months. NWFP Governor Lt-Gen (retd) Ali Jan Aurakzai has proposed to the federal government to urgently build these bridges. The US government will deliver the superstructure of bridges in one shipment about which it was also said that the completion of work could take longer time due to the hostile environment in the region.

The identification of bridges, located on Pak-Afghan border areas, was done by the Pakistan Army for which $6.5 million will initially be provided by the United States.

Most of the Fata roads pass through mountainous terrain where flash floods are very common. These floods bring large sized boulders and other debris, which render the roads non-commutable for the traffic. Though roads exist, many areas become inaccessible in such conditions and the provision of steel bridges will make such areas accessible in almost all weather conditions.

These bridges will be located in Mohmand, Khyber and Kurram Agency with the total length of 25 meters, 115 meters and 515 meters, respectively. Most of bridges are single span with exception of three bridges in the Kurram Agency with two spans each.

The government believes that the building of steel bridges in Fata will also uplift the economy of the area by providing jobs to the people of the area.

Sources said that the role of Safron has been "restricted" to negotiate the funding arrangement with US narcotics authorities and the real execution of the steel bridges will be carried out by Pakistan Army engineers.