Criticism as road project abandoned

TIMERGARA: The people from Dir, Bajaur and Chitral have started criticizing the government and the elected public representatives for shelving the Chakdara-Dir-Chitral Expressway project.

The Chakdara-Dir-Chitral Expressway has become talk of the town nowadays in both districts of Lower and Upper Dir besides Chitral and Bajaur as people from the area criticized not only the government but their public representatives on mainstream as well as social media. The elected public representatives particularly the ones aligned with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are being criticized for failing to raise voice for the rights of their constituents.

The debate started on social media following the approval of second phase of Swat Expressway from Chakdara to Fatehpur. Critics are of the view they were not against the construction of the Swat Expressway but the Chakdara-Chitral motorway project was placed on the backburner even though it was included in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during initial days of the launching of multi-billion mega transit route.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif while addressing a public meeting at Lowari in 2017 had announced the motorway as alternate route to the Karakorum Highway and funds were also allocated for its feasibility report while the project was reflected in two budgets as well. But after the PTI came into power the project was not reflected in the two budgets it passed let alone starting its execution. The Chakdara-Dir-Chitral expressway if executed will promote tourism in Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Bajaur, Lower Chitral and Upper Chitral besides providing an alternate route to KKH linking Chitral with Gilgit via Shandur pass.

It has strategic importance too because this highway would provide excess to Central Asian States via Wakhan corridor. From the tourism point of view, the highway would provide easy excess to Laram top, Bin Shahi and the green Maidan valley in Lower Dir, Kumrat, Brawal, Nehag and Torman Darrra and other scenic spots in Upper Dir, Kalash valley, Ayun and Upper Chitral valley as well as Bajaur, providing tourists the chance to visit more than a dozen tourists spots in one go. As a reaction the leaders of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Tuesday talked to media and demanded revival of the Chakdara-Dir-Chitral motorway project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) arrangements, which they said had been sent to cold storage since PTI came into power.

PPP former ministers Mehmood Zaib Khan and Bakht Baidar Khan along with ex-tehsil nazim Alamzeb Advocate addressed a press conference at Chakdarra, accusing the PTI government of shelving the vital project that was part of the CPEC. “We are not against development of Swat and expressway but being part of Malakand division we demand execution of Chakdara-Chitral expressway which was included in CPEC almost three years back,” they argued.

They said Chief Minister Mahmood Khan even shifted the projects from Dir that were sanctioned during the previous setup and also stopped work on the ongoing schemes. Former Member National Assembly (MNA) Sahibzada Tariqullah of JI also talked to a YouTube channel and said that Nawaz Sharif had approved the project in 2017 and had also allocated funds for its feasibility study. He said the chief minister and a federal minister tried to dodge the public representatives from Dir through hollow assurances and diverted development projects to their own constituencies in Swat. He warned that people from Dir, Chitral and Bajaur would take to the streets if the Chakdara-Dir-Chitral expressway project was not carried out. The residents of these districts would not accept the highway on any other name except the original project under CPEC, he added. On the other hand social media users while taunting the PTI MNAs and MPAs for their silence over the project urged them to come forward and join the popular demand of Chakdara-Chitral expressway or else the electorate would vent their anger on them.