Hazara to see mega projects’ execution

MANSEHRA: Caretaker Provincial Minister Communication and Works Department Ahmad Jan on Sunday said the government was going to execute mega development projects in the Hazara division.

“The cabinet of ministers have finalised mega development projects, and have taken up them with the federal government for an early execution and as these initiatives complete, they will bring about a major change in people’s lives in the division,” he said while speaking to media men here.

He said the dualisation of the Karakoram Highway from Hassanabdal to Mansehra had been approved and its execution was expected to be launched shortly.“We have also finalised flyovers at this strategic artery in urban parts coming in its right of way to ensure smooth and trouble-free travelling,” Ahmad Jan said.

The minister said execution of the mega gravity water supply scheme for Mansehra was expected to be initiated soon as people have been suffering scarcity of potable waters for decades.

“The multi-billion schemes have been kept on the priority as people of Mansehra and its suburbs have been facing a shortage of potable water for decades as previous governments made merely claims in this regard,” he said.

Ahmad Jan, who is also a caretaker minister of Irrigation, said Siren and Bugemung valleys were being connected with the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road and Karakoram Highway through tourism-friendly Mundi Road, which was rapidly nearing completion.

The minister said that the first-ever Medical College would be established in the Dadar area of Mansehra as a widespread government land existed for that project here.He said the Hazara Motorway’s Abbottabad Interchange had also been approved with Rs12 billion and it would link the city with that artery.

“Owing to wrong planning and unjustified interference by the former lawmakers the Abbottabad was without any interchange and now the federal government is going to start its execution on our recommendations,” Ahmad Jan said.

He said that the execution of development projects which were left by the previous government in Hazara and the rest of the province would also be restarted. The minister said that Abbottabad’s garbage dumping ground was being converted into a recycling plant to make the area more attractive for tourists.