SWABI, Sept 4: The transporters and commuters have criticised the extremely slow pace of work on under-construction roads in the district, saying that contractors had failed to complete their projects even after two years of their start.

They said that work on the 20-kilometre Swabi-Topi Road was started one and a half years ago, but still the Frontier Highways Authority (FHA) failed to ensure completion of the project.

Transporters complained that contractors were continuing work with help of just three to four tractors/excavators on this road, the entire stretch of which had been dug up more than a year ago. They said that recent heavy rains and floods had worsened the situation, rendering the already created road structure dilapidated. They said that the misery of road users could be better felt once one got stuck in the heavy traffic on this dusty track.

They said that the contractor should have started the project piece by piece, digging only three to four kilometres stretch for construction, instead of digging the whole 20km road. This has been creating a difficult situation for the people who have no option but to travel through this 'dusty track', they said.

An aged man, Amir Rehman, said that contractors were not allowed to dig the whole road during the British colonial period and they had to work in stages, moving forward with their work after completing two to three kilometers part of a road.

Commuters, and especially people living on both sides of the road, are compelled to face dusty environment for hours. Residents said that a thick layer could be seen on everything left in the open in their houses.

They said that dust had also been causing respiratory diseases among the people.

Besides some link roads, Topi-Hemlit road and Swabi-Jahangira road are other such road projects where work is continuing from the last four years. People of these areas have also claimed that contractors were using substandard material and damage to the already built part of the road could be seen after every rain.