KOHAT, Jan 20: National Highway Authority chairman Gen Farrukh Javed has said that work on mega projects, including Lowari tunnel, second Kohat tunnel, remaining portion of the Indus Highway and improvement of other roads in Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP will be initiated soon.
He was talking to newsmen at a reception held at the Kohat tunnel site to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pakistan-Japan friendship. Officials of the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, JICA, Japanese embassy and the NHA were present on the occasion.
The NHA chief said that an international tender to hire consultants for the Lowari tunnel had been floated and work on the project would start from May 28. Construction of Lowari tunnel in Chitral would cost Rs8 billion and it would be completed in four years.
He said the NHA had planned to construct a second tunnel in Kohat to meet the expected traffic needs. In this regard, budgetary proposals had been sent to the finance ministry for the allocation of funds in the PSDP for the feasibility study.
Gen Farrukh Javed said the NHA had decided to construct two more lanes of the four-lane Karachi-Hyderabad Super Highway. Other highways in Sindh would also be upgraded from two lanes to four lanes which would improve the traffic flow, he added.
The NHA chief said that so far construction of 800km-long portion of Indus Highway from Peshawar to D.I.Khan had been completed, while work on rest of 400km would be initiated soon. He added that work on 106km-long portion from D.I.Khan to Rajanpur would be undertaken shortly.
Gen Javed said the acceleration of work to complete the Expressway up to Torkham and the improvement of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Road were NHA's priority. Both road linkages with Afghanistan would lead to swift transportation of goods from Karachi, Lahore and Frontier to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
In reply to a question, he said the NHA generated Rs3.2 billion revenue per annum, while the annual maintenance cost of the entire road network was about Rs7 billion.
The NHA chief said the entire money generated through toll tax was spent on maintenance and repair of highways. In this regard, he said the NHA wanted to impose a uniform toll tax rate in the country.
On the occasion, he appreciated the Japan Bank for International Cooperation's (JBIC) assistance for development projects. He said the JBIC had played a significant role in development of communications sector, particularly for highway sector, in Pakistan.
He said the Kohat tunnel, built with Japanese cooperation, was a modern and longest roadway tunnel (1.885m) in Pakistan which had 28.75km-long approach roads.
The tunnel and its approach roads (both north and south approach roads located at Darra Adam Khel and Kohat Toi) offered an alternative to the steep and long Kohat Pass situated between Peshawar and Kohat, reducing traffic congestion, distance and travel time.
The project not only envisaged tunnel facilities but also encompassed a complete system for the operation and maintenance of the tunnel facilities, including weighbridge operations, emergency services, and rescue operations to ensure smooth operation of traffic and safety of public, he added.-APP
