PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tourism department has asked the highway authorities to establish resting areas with toilets along their respective roads in the province.

An official told Dawn that the tourism department wanted both National Highway Authority (NHA) and Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (PKHA) to provide those facilities like the ones offered by the privately-owned Hascol Petroleum company on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway.

He said since the tourism department didn’t possess land along the highways, it was the domain of the NHA and PKHA to provide motorists and commuters with facilities on the roads they managed in the province.

In a letter to the NHA chairman, the tourism secretary said domestic and foreign tourists went to the scenic areas of KP in large numbers every year.

He noted that the KP government had ranked tourism as its priority sector and demand for tourist facilities was increasing in areas like Galiyat, Naran, Kalam, Kumrat, Hzara and Malakand division and Swat Expressway due to their easy access and close proximity to the capital.

The secretary said those areas were major tourist attractions.

He said a lack of standard resting rooms with allied facilities was a major problem for the visitors, especially women and children.

In the letter, the secretary noted that the tourism department is working on the supply and installation of 150 prefabricated toilets in tourist areas of Malakand and Hazara divisions, establishment of executive resting areas and provision of facilities in tourist areas through construction and management outsourcing.

He added that a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on July 26 had decided that washrooms along the roads would be made by the NHA and PKHA on the routes to tourist destinations based on successful model being executed by the Hascol along the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway.

The secretary revealed that all such facilities would be built at an approximate distance of 10-15km or 40-60 minutes drive.

He said all such facilities should have separate prayer areas, toilets and ablution places for men and women, differently-abled persons with proper exhaust and sanitation mechanisms, canteen/tuck shops, drinking water facility, and small dispensary.

In the letter, the secretary said both highway authorities could install traffic count systems to monitor and count the traffic entering and leaving specific areas in real time.

He added that NOCs should be given to petrol pumps only if they fulfilled that requirement.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2021