PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has directed the Swat Expressway’s project director and contractor to ensure early completion of repair and submit a progress report to it by Dec 14.

The two were also warned by Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan that if the work was substandard, they would face action.

The bench directed them to ensure that the repair should not be “cosmetic in nature” so that the condition of the expressway didn’t deteriorate within days of work completion.

The high court had taken notice of bumpy points on the Swat Expressway a few months ago and ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (KPHA) to carry out its inspection.

Seeks progress report by 14th

It had also directed the authority to fix all potholes on the expressway using quality material.

The project director later told the court that the highway was found to be uneven at 34 points during the inspection carried out on the court’s orders.

He had also said that the repair of the portion with large number of bumps would be completed by Sept 22, whereas the overall expressway repair would be finished by Oct 15.

Additional attorney general Aamir Javed and additional advocate general Syed Sikandar Hayat Shah appeared for the federal and KP governments respectively. The project director of Swat Expressway also turned up. The bench expressed displeasure over a delay in the completion of the expressway repair.

The project director told it that work had already been begun and it would be completed in near future.

The bench observed that billions of rupees had been spent on the construction of the expressway but regrettably, the quality of work was poor. It added that the road was constructed with the taxpayers’ money, which should not go to waste.

The additional advocate general told the court that the Swat Expressway was built by the Frontier Works Organisation and it had also been collecting toll from the expressway users and was equally responsible for the expressway’s maintenance.

About the construction of a road near Lowari Tunnel in Chitral region, the bench was informed that funds had been approved for work, which would begin after the end of the snowfall period soon.

Officials of the National Highway Authority told the court that the government had approved Rs1 billion for the construction of the road leading to Lowari Tunnel but work couldn’t begin due to snowfall.

The bench directed them to submit a progress report about it.

Similarly, the court was informed by the AAG that on its orders, a pipeline had been laid down for the supply of drinking water to Ashriat village in Chitral region.

The court had taken a notice of the unavailability of potable water in Ashriat area a few weeks ago and ordered the government to ensure water supply at the earliest.

It observed that drinking water was the basic human need, so its provision to the people was a constitutional responsibility of the government.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2022