PESHAWAR, April 29: The National Highway Authority (NHA) is planning to build a northern bypass that will link the expressway between Peshawar and Torkhum with the under-construction Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, sources said.

Officials said the proposed 26-kilometre long dual carriageway would cost an estimated Rs4 billion and a separate collector had been appointed to oversee the process of land acquisition for the project.

They said the NWFP government was planning to build the northern bypass road after completing the southern part of the ring road.

An official said the authority would construct the northern bypass, as the cash-strapped NWFP government was unable to generate funds for the remaining portion of the ring road.

He said the provincial government had appointed a collector on Friday and the process of land acquisition would begin soon after other staff had been recruited.

NHA officials told Dawn that the political administration in the Khyber Agency had been asked to acquire land for construction of the expressway between Peshawar and Torkhum.

Under the plan, NHA would build a northern bypass from Chamkani on the outskirts of Peshawar to Tekhta Baig in the Khyber Agency to connect the two major highways.

Work on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motor-way is already in progress.

Officials said that the proposed project would be a dual carriageway and the width of each bypass lane would be 7.3 metres. They said the NHA would construct the bypass on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis and its users would be charged.

They said that work on the Peshawar-Torkhum expressway would be started after land acquisition. The project would cost Rs7 billion, they added.