KOHAT: The Kohat-Hangu dual carriageway constructed at a huge cost of Rs2billion has developed bumps and potholes only a few months after its completion.

Union council nazim Syed Mehtabul Hassan demanded an inquiry by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission, alleging large-scale corruption in the project.

After reports of surface erosion and appearance of cracks in the road, Dawn contacted district councillor Shah Raza who lives in a village along the road, who said the road developed cracks as its upper layer was not properly compacted. He said he had talked to the engineers who told him that it was because the contractor used less bitumen and asphalt or premix. And then to save more money he did not use roller up to the required standard.

The district councillor recalled that the local people had staged protests and demanded action against the contractor, after which he was fined and got the road repaired from his own pocket money which was a clear proof that he was guilty of wrongdoing.

When contacted, Engr Shakir of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority said due to opposition by a local tribe to the instalation of weight point at Nasrat Khel the extremely overloaded 22-wheeler Afghan transit trade vehicles bringing goods from Karachi had been causing serious damage to the newly-constructed Kohat-Hangu Highway.

However, an official challenged his point and said technically the load was divided on every wheel so there was no reason it should damage the road. He said the road could not bear even light vehicles.

The whole left wing of the road up to Hangu had been filled with patchwork as the road regularly disappeared. The second problem was the imbalance of the road and it was not smooth after spending billions of rupees, he stated.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2017