KOHAT: The Kohat-Hangu dual carriageway has started developing cracks due to alleged use of substandard construction material and plying of vehicles heavier than the allowed weight.

The 48-kilometre dual road being constructed by the Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority is part of the alternative passage to Torkham for transportation of goods under the Afghan Transit Trade and general import and export between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

An official said that the 16-km road completed in phase-I of the project was being repaired by the contractor with a cost of Rs1.3 million on his own after it started crumbling down.

The social and political circles have urged the district development advisory committee chairman, MPA Ziaullah Bangash, to invite the chief minister’s inspection team to investigate the matter and ensure removal of the road fault.

Earlier, an inquiry was started in the road project and work was stopped on the complaint of local people, but it was shelved and a go ahead was given to the KPHA.

KPHA official Shakir Pervez, who was supervising the whole project of the dual highway, had been terming the allegations of corruption in the project totally baseless.

He said that some quarters were not happy with his appointment and spreading rumours, hindering the work. He said that first phase of the project had been completed and work on the second phase of 32km long highway would be started in a month.

Officials blamed the Afghan Transit Trade business on the said road for the damage, saying trucks with 120 tons load instead of the allowed weight of 50 to 60 tons were plying unchecked on it.

They said that there was no weight checking point on the highway.

They said that trucks as high as 10 feet were using the highway which caused hammering by the rear tires and damaging the road.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2016