SWABI: Work on construction of Swabi bypass project is expected to commence soon after assumption of power by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the province, said sources in the PTI and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (KPHA) on Wednesday.

They said that the project would cost Rs2.16 billion and the construction would be carried out under the supervision of KPHA, which had finalised all the arrangements.

They claimed that as the area was not included in MNA-elect Asad Qaiser’s constituency before delimitation of the constituencies he did not give importance to the people’s demand and that was the main reason for delay of the project.

However, during the recent delimitation the area where the bypass was to be built was included in NA-18, Swabi-I, the constituency from which Mr Qaiser achieved victory in the recent elections.

The sources said that the Topi, Zaida, Marghuz and Baja bypass roads had already been constructed, but Swabi bypass project was pushed into cold storage because the parliamentarians focused on their areas and ignored the district headquarters.

When contacted, KPHA officials said that they had been asked to take necessary measures for construction of the project. They said that there was a dire need to construct the bypass road to ease traffic load on the city roads, especially facilitating the heavy vehicles coming from Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate.

Presently, traffic jams could be seen at Karnal Sher Khan Chowk, but the 10.6 kilometres bypass would resolve this problem. The bypass road would pass through lush green fields and with its completion the value of the land would go up. Also, transportation of goods to and from the city would become easy.

MPA-elect Rangaiz Khan said that construction of the bypass road was one of the longstanding demands of the people of the city. “We hope that the Swabi bypass would be our first project after winning the elections,” he said.

PTI district president Anwar Haqdad said that they had earlier attended KPHA meetings about this project which was finalised during the last days of their party government.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018