September 27, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 14, 1428

PESHAWAR, Sept 26: NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai has ordered early completion of road projects in the province and tribal areas.

National Highway Authority chairman Maj-Gen Imtiaz Ahmad on Wednesday gave a presentation to the governor on ongoing and planned projects of the NHA in the NWFP and Fata.

Mr Ahmad said the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway would be completed in all respects by the year-end. However, he said, it would be opened for traffic next month.

He said work on the four-lane 51km Peshawar-Torkham Expressway would start early next year. The project would be completed by December 2011 at a cost of Rs11 billion.

The meeting discussed the Peshawar Northern Bypass project and called for its early completion. The NHA chairman said bottlenecks in the project were being identified in collaboration with the provincial government. He said the NHA had taken up the project in 2003 and initially 26km road was to be built as part of the Peshawar ring road project. He said the road design had now been changed because the project had been delayed for four years.

The road will now be 34km long and will have four lanes. It will link the Peshawar -Islamabad Motorway from end point with the Peshawar-Torkhan expressway at start point and will bypass Hayatabad and Bara markets to terminate at the Takhta Beg Bridge near Jamrud. The project, which will cost Rs.5313 million, will be completed in three years.

The NHA official said 34 per cent work on the main Lowari Rail Tunnel and 66 per cent work on link roads on both sides of the tunnel had been completed. The project will cost Rs8 billion and will be ready by September 2008.—PPI