ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: Japan has offered to assist Pakistan and Afghanistan in the construction of Torkham-to-Kabul dual carriageway to facilitate trade and reconstruction of the war-battered country

An official source told Dawn on Sunday that the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has indicated to finance the road from Torkham to Kabul through Jalalabad and has asked Pakistan to provide project details and cost estimates as soon as possible.

The state-run National Highway Authority (NHA) is separately planning to repair the highway between Peshawar and Torkham, which is currently in a very dilapidated condition.

A delegation of NHA had recently visited Kabul to prepare the feasibility study on Torkham-to-Kabul carriageway following a request made by the Afghan authorities. They held out the assurance that the workforce to be involved in the road construction would be provided full security.

The officials said the NHA engineers were now in the process of finalizing the feasibility study that would be submitted to the JBIC for consideration.

Sources said that Pakistani and Afghan businessmen were pursuing the project for easy transportation of goods required in Afghanistan, particularly the construction material. It was also to be a vital link for future transit trade with Afghanistan, and for accessing the central Asian markets.

The sources said that China had also expressed its willingness to support the project through provision of funds and expertise through its private sector.

The NHA chairman Lt-Gen Furrukh Javed had told the press early this month that he had proposed to either immediately repair the existing 43-km road from Peshawar to Torkham at a cost of Rs1.8 billion or construct a realigned, four-lane road at a cost of Rs3.5 billion to immediately reach Kabul through Jalalabad and, ultimately, the central Asia.