KOHAT: The 44-kilometre Kohat- Hangu highway, which is near completion, will be extended up to Parachinar and then to Kabul under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project to serve as alternative route for Afghan Transit Trade.

Project director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority Engr Shakir Pervez told Dawn on Wednesday that a proposal was also under consideration to extend the highway from Parachinar to Kabul and then to Central Asia to make it an international trade route.

He said it was all downhill ride from Parachinar to Kabul so it would be an easy project as compared to steep stretch from Kohat to Parachinar.

He said the Rs1.2 billion Kohat-Hangu highway project started in 2015 and was to complete in 2018, but was delayed due to shortage of about 60 per cent funds and some problems with local people over the route.

He said the Kohat-Hangu highway was being damaged due to plying of overloaded vehicles.

Talking about the toll plaza, Mr Pervez said it had started functioning in Kohat. He added huge trucks were being charged Rs220, small lorries Rs110, while light vehicles had been exempted for the time being.

It is to be noted here that the people had opposed the toll plaza and demanded its shifting to the Kohat-Hangu border.

The KPHA project director said the issue of installing a weight machine to stop overloaded vehicles from damaging the new highway could not be resolved as the people of Nasratkhel opposed its installation on the grounds that it would mar the sanctity of the local graveyard and women working in the fields. He said the district administration had also not allowed the weight machine to be installed at the selected site for four years.

Mr Pervez said KPHA director had sent a summary to the senior member Board of Revenue for allotting a new site at Raisan in Hangu for installing the weight machine.

Besides, he said the project might be delayed further as a court had issued stay order on the request of residents of Ustarzai Payan for diversion of the highway from a shrine and other religious places.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2019