The Swat Motorway

According to media reports, the 81km-long Swat Motorway in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be built at a cost of Rs38 billion in two years. The government has already floated tenders for the construction of the motorway. The project will start from the Captain Karnal Sher Khan interchange of the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway and pass through Swabi, Mardan, Sakhakot and Dargai. It will also connect Swat, Dir, Buner, Shangla and terminate at Chakdara. It will be a double-carriageway along with a service road. It will not only make travelling easy but also reduce travel time. The motorway project also includes the construction of a 2,000 meters long tunnel in the hills of Malakand.
The Swat Motorway will increase economic activities and ensure easy and quick accessibility to the resource-rich Malakand Division. Also, the scenic Swat valley will become easily accessible to people travelling from Punjab and Islamabad for tourism. Even Mardan and Swabi will be accessible through the motorway from the Malakand Division.
Khan Faraz
Peshawar