PESHAWAR, Feb 20: NWFP Governor Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai on Tuesday performed the groundbreaking of a road reconstruction project from the Nishter Hall to Governor's House section of Saddar Road.

The Rs50-million project will convert the existing two lanes into three on each side of the road and solve the traffic congestion problem between the Cantonment and city.

Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, NWFP Assembly Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan, Peshawar District Nazim Haji Ghulam Ali were also present on the occasion.

Earlier at a briefing, the governor and chief minister were informed that an additional land would be acquired from both sides of the road.

Governor's House and other important government buildings including, MPA Hostel, Civil Secretariat, Peshawar Museum, District Courts and Central Prisons, are included in the process of trimming.The meeting was informed that a total of 6,300 square metres of the land in the jurisdiction of Governor's House would be included in the project to resolve the traffic problem.

The NWFP governor and chief minister desired that an underpass should also be provided near the Jail Bridge junction for pedestrians.

The meeting was also informed about the pace of work on the Rehman Baba Square's reconstruction project. Both the governor and chief minister directed that the implementation of its each and every phase should be constantly supervised and no efforts should be spared to materialise the desired goals of this long-awaited project.

Landscaping and beautification aspect of the project also came under discussion.

The meeting was informed that work on the second phase of the project was in progress which also included construction of an overhead bridge to provide an unhindered access to the traffic between GT Road and Soekarno Square. In the third phase, another overhead bridge would also be constructed on its western side to provide a link for traffic between Charsadda Road and Saddar Road.—APP