MANSEHRA: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan formally inaugurated the 68km Mansehra-Thakot section of Hazara Expressway here on Tuesday.”

Hazara and Malakand divisions have great tourism potential and the Hazara Expressway can help develop tourism industry in the region,” he told the inaugural ceremony.

Mr Mahmood credited Prime Minister Imran Khan and federal communications minister Murad Saeed for the early construction and opening of the section and said the 180km Hazara Expressway from Hassanabdal to Thakot had been completed at a cost of Rs133 billion.

He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiative, under which the Hazara Expressway had been built, would strengthen the country’s economy and generate large-scale employment opportunities.

The chief minister said work on the motorway’s second phase was under way in Swat and its completion would promote tourism in Malakand division and provide employment to a large number of people.

He criticised opposition parties over ‘false propaganda’ against the PTI governments in the centre and provinces.

“Those, who got votes from the people in the name of Islam, have been falsely accusing us [ruling PTI] of diverting the development funds of Dir districts to the Swat Motorway project despite knowing that the funds meant for CPEC projects can’t be used for any other purpose,” he said.

Mr Mahmood said for the first time in the country’s history, the federal government had approved six mega development projects for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its credit went to the premier.

Without naming the opposition PML-N, he said they [the Nawaz Sharif-led party] claimed credit for three airport initiatives in the province though the projects existed on paper only.

“Those, who completed mega development projects on paper, are propagating against our government,” he said.

National Highway Authority chairman Sikandar Qayyum said the Mansehra-Thakot section of Hazara Expressway was opened to traffic only after the chief minister approved traffic wardens for it at the request of communications minister Murad Saeed.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020