KP govt improving road infrastructure: ministers

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is improving road infrastructure to connect the entire province and pave the way for its speedy development.

Speaking at a joint press conference at the Cabinet Room of the Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday, provincial ministers Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Akbar Ayub said accessibility from one place to other was a key to promoting tourism. They said transparency in the overall rehabilitation of the existing road network and the construction of new ones was the priority of the provincial government.

Minister for Communication and Works Akbar Ayub said his department was working on the improvement and reconstruction of 18,000 kilometre long roads throughout the province. He referred to the flagship projects such as Swat Motorway and the second phase from Chakdarra to Fatehpur, the futuristic plan of motorway from Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan.

The minister added that these projects would create easy access of mobility from one area to another area, reducing the distance considerably and opening of these areas for tourism, mineral development and rapid trade activities that would increase job opportunities.

Sketching out the whole construction and reconstruction activities of the C&W Department, the minister said previously the provincial government rehabilitated 607-kilometre roads with an allocation of Rs15122 million. The building sector received Rs783.398 million, the renovation and construction of buildings included 10897 square foot and a half million was spent on the capacity building of the engineers of the department.