SWABI: The inordinate delay in the reconstruction of the 35-kilometre Swabi-Jehangira Road is troubling commuters and transporters alike as the contractor has left the work incomplete due to paucity of funds.

Officials in communication and works department told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the project was of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority. They said the road’s reconstruction was started over three years ago and former National Assembly speaker and sitting MNA Asad Qaiser and other PTI leaders had inaugurated work on it, claiming at that time that the project would be complete within a year.

The officials said that the artery was of critical importance as it linked the district with Islamabad and Peshawar through the Grand Trunk Road.

They said that the road was converted into a dual carriageway to absorb the heavy traffic. Earlier, they added that the single-lane road was causing accidents, leading to loss of lives.

The transporters said that due to the incomplete road majority of them opted to stay away from it.

“Instead of a 40-minute drive, now it takes one and half hour to reach Jehangira from Swabi, and that too in a storm of dust,” said Hamid Ali, a rickshaw driver.

An employee, who serves in Bacha Khan Teaching Hospital, Shahmansoor, said there was always a storm of dust flying off the road, troubling commuters and pedestrians.

The communication and works department officials said that the delay in completion of the road was due to shortage of funds.

CHEAP ROTI: Jamaat-i-Islami’s Youth Wing inaugurated a cheap tandoor (oven) in Dagai area here on Saturday.

The party’s officials told Dawn that the initiative would benefit the poor people in Ramazan. They said that roti would be available at Rs10 as against the market rate of Rs20.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2024