Hazara Motorway to be opened to traffic soon: official

MANSEHRA: Hazara Commissioner Zaheerul Islam on Wednesday said that Hazara Motorway, being executed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiatives, would be opened for traffic soon.

“I am expecting this strategically important artery to be completed within the next three to four weeks, which will reduce the vehicular burden on Karakoram Highway,” he told reporters here. He said that work on Havelian-Mansehra section of Hazara Motorway was almost complete and little patches where work was still underway would soon be completed following which that motorway would be opened to traffic.

“We could have opened Hazara Motorway to traffic almost mid of August but the spell of rains intercepted work,” said the commissioner.

Sahibzada Jawad Alfaizi, an educationist who travels on Mansehra-Abbottabad section of the Hazara Motorway, said that the major work on that artery was almost complete and finishing work was in progress rapidly.

“Once the Hazara Motorway is completed and opened, the traffic mess will get alleviated at KKH that usually remains choked nowadays,” said Alfaizi.

He said that Hazara Motorway would also cause a boom in the tourism industry in Hazara division and Gilgit-Baltistan as currently, tourists were reluctant to visit in bulks to enjoy the natural beauty here because of traffic mess on KKH.