December 27, 2017, was a day of jubilation for the residents of Hazara division as the then prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, inaugurated work on the Hassanabdal–Shah Maqsood section of the motorway being built under the multibillion dollars China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

However, slow pace of work on the Hazara Motorway disappointed them.

For the residents, the motorway, which covers around 180 kilometers between Hassanabdal and Thakot, is the only solution to frequent traffic mess in the region and beyond.

“Traffic on the Karakoram Highway is so chaotic that I’ve to cover 35 kilometers distance between Havelian and Mansehra in three to four hours instead of normal half an hour,” complained Sahibzada Jawad Alfaizi, the managing director of a nongovernmental organisation.

Mr Alfaizi felt said the Karakoram Highway, the only road link between Hazara division and rest of the country, had exhausted its utility and so, the Hazara Motorway promised the region economic growth and prosperity.

“Kaghan and other scenic valleys of Mansehra area and the natural wonderland of Hunza have great tourism potential but roads to them are a big hurdle to the promotion of tourism there,” he said.

The frequent KKH user said the international nongovernmental organisations based in Mansehra following the 2005 earthquake left here to other parts of country to escape routine suffering of travelling on the highway and congested roads leading to various important destinations like Kaghan valley.

“The 35km Havelian-Mansehra stretch of the KKH has a four kilometers dual carriageway in Abbottabad city but the rest is a single-way road causing traffic mess,” he said.

Saith Matiullah, the president of Kaghan Valley Hoteliers Association, strongly believed that the construction of the Hazara Motorway would boost tourism industry in the region and thus, causing massive employment opportunities for locals.

“Currently, the flow of tourists to Kaghan valley and Gilgit-Baltistan and destinations in neighbouring regions is low due to traffic problems on the KKH and Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road. We’re confident that the Hazara Motorway’s construction will tangibly boost tourism,” he said.

Mr Matiullah said when work on the motorway’s Hassanabdal-Shah Maqsood section was inaugurated, the local business community was optimistic that rest of its portion up to Mansehra would be open to traffic by the end of June 2018, but they were disappointed to note afterwards that it would take almost a year and half more for completion.

He said the National Highway Authority should expedite work on Hazara Motorway for early completion to ease the traffic problems of KKH users and unleash massive development in the province and Gilgit-Baltistan.

NHA general manager for the CPEC project Naseem Khattak had claimed in August last year that the ‘hard work’ of Chinese companies would ensure the opening of the Havalian-Mansehra section of Hazara Motorway to traffic next year (2018).

However, a visit to the section belied the claim suggesting work it is likely to continue even beyond 2019.

The road has yet to be carpeted, while work on bridges and afforestation of road embankments through ‘seed-added potting soil bags’ is also under way.

Ma Guiming Ali, the administration manager of the China Construction Communication Company Limited tasked with building the Hazara Motorway’s Havelian-Mansehra section, said work on the section was smoothly as planned, while the Hazara Motorway would be built by March 2020.

“We will complete this Havelian-Mansehra section by the end of next year,” he insisted.

The information gathered from various sources revealed that the Hazara Motorway from Hassanabdal to Thakot wasn’t completely three-lane one on both sides.

An NHA official said the Hazara Motorway had the Hassanabdal-Mansehra section only and the road from Mansehra to Thakot was an expressway.

“Our people are in streets since section 4 of revenue Act was imposed as government fixed low prices of land acquired motorway,” said Saeed Khan, member of the tehsil council.

He said the land prices had yet to be paid to landlords whose land was acquired.

“We have repeatedly met to deputy commissioner seeking increase in land prices in accordance with market prices but not to avail,” he said.

The councillor said an attractive relief package was announced for the landowners but none of them was paid to them.

“The market price of our land is around Rs2 million a kanal but the government acquired it at the throwaway price of Rs 300,000 a kanal, which is unacceptable to us,” he said.

District councillor from Dodial Nawaz Khan said neither the NHA nor the provincial government was sincere about resolving the price and other issues facing landowners.

“The houses coming in the way of the motorway have been demolished but their owners have yet to be compensated,” he said.

He said the motorway project was launched promising development and prosperity for the people of Hazara division but ironically, the locals, whose land was acquired for it, had been without a livelihood since.

“This mega CPEC project should not be executed at the cost of the development of the people, whose land has been acquired and the rest is divided in two-side of road affecting their yields and still without payment,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018