PESHAWAR: The Peshawar district administration on Monday formed a committee headed by the ruling PTI’s Member of National Assembly, Shandana Gulzar, to present a report on the issues regarding the Peshawar-Torkham Expressway project.

The construction of the 47 kilometers long and four-lane expressway has been planned at the cost $460 million with the assistance of the World Bank.

Peshawar commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud told Dawn the project was the biggest in the province’s history and would prove a game-changer for its and national development by connecting the country with Central Asian Republics (CARs).

He said the road, also called the southern link road (SLR), would start near Tarnab Farm in Peshawar and enter Khyber tribal district after passing through the Badhaber area of the provincial capital and end on Torkham border crossing.

Mr Mehsud said that the World Bank was the main financier of the $460 million project and would contribute $360 million, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would foot the remaining bill.

He said that the issues like existence of graveyards on the proposed project sites, commercial properties and agricultural land was causing delays.

“We have been working on the project modalities for the past 10 days and have held three meetings so far,” he said.

The commissioner said that the administration had invited MNA from NA-31 Peshawar Shandana Gulzar to the meeting as the road passed through her constituency.

The meeting was also attended by other stakeholders.

Mr Mehsud said that the meeting decided to form a committee to resolve the issues faced by the project and a committee was set up in the meeting with MNA Shandana Gulzar as its head.

The committee will comprise deputy commissioner of Peshawar, project director of the National Highway Authority, revenue officials of the district administration, former judge Abdul Mateen, and lawyer Zahanat Khan from the community.

The commissioner said that the committee would visit the proposed road project site on Monday along with him.

“We are working on war footing and will try to resolve all issues quickly,” he said.

Mr Mehsud said that the Peshawar-Torkham Expressway was a project of international importance and would play a very positive role in the economic development of the region as well as the country after its construction.

He said that the project would boost the volume of the trade between Pakistan, Afghanistan and CARs.

“This road is going to be a game-changer for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he said.

The commissioner said Peshawar’s district administration had resolved all issues faced by the Northern Bypass project and the bypass would be opened to traffic on December 31.

He said that both the projects would greatly help reduce traffic burden of the provincial capital and facilitate Afghanistan-bound commercial vehicles.

The committee headed by MNA Shandana Gulzar will present its report within 72 hours, according to an official statement issued here.

It said the committee would resolve the issues of road alignment, addressing the complaints of the victims and building public consensus for the project.

“The project is of crucial nature in ensuring access to CARs, boosting Pak-Afghan trade and addressing the traffic congestion problem in the provincial capital,” read the statement.

It added that the participants agreed that the road project was of very crucial nature and all possible means would be utilised for its timely construction.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2024