ISLAMABAD Aug 17: There are indications that work on the Bhasha dam project will start in June 2006 because of the government's failure to muster sufficient political support for the Kalabagh dam project.

The impression was given by chairman of the National Highway Authority Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed while talking to newsmen at Thakot, the venue of the Pak-China friendship bridge on Indus river, on Tuesday.

Maj-Gen Farrukh said that the Karakoram highway needed to be expanded and renovated before the start of work on the Bhasha dam's site. A total of 321-kilometre-long road would require upgradation while a 142-kilometre-long segment needed to be redesigned and re-routed for facilitating the dam's construction, he said, adding that the NHA had already signed an MoU with Wapda for exchanging technical and financial know-how on renovation of the Karakoram Highway.

Maj-Gen Javed, however, dispelled an impression about the lack of infrastructure being a hurdle in this regard. He said that in its current shape, the highway was capable of catering to the transportation of machinery for the construction of big dam, adding that there was no immediate need for constructing another bridge on Indus river.

A new highway was being constructed between Jaglot and Chilas and the project was being allotted to the Frontier Works Organization. Construction of the road would reduce distance between Rawalpindi and Gilgit by at least 85 kilometres, besides boosting tourism, adding that it would provide two highways for the smooth supply of construction material for the Bhasha dam.

He said that the construction of the Lowari tunnel would start in June 2005, adding that it would provide an all-weather link between Chitral and the rest of the country. The coastal highway project, he said, had been completed ahead of the stipulated time and Gen Musharraf would inaugurate it in October 2004.

Chairman NHA further said that the Islamabad-Murree dual carriage-way would be completed by mid-2005, enabling commuters to reach Murree in only 45 minutes. He denied that the motorway was in any way a burden on the national exchequer, adding that no road or highway could earn money unless efforts were made to make it commercially viable by setting up industry along the route.