Chakdara-Rabaat Expressway feasibility: KP CM Mahmood Khan orders consultancy hiring

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has given a go-ahead for the hiring of consultancy to conduct commercial and financial feasibility for the construction of an expressway from Chakdara to Rabaat area in Lower Dir district. The chief minister gave the approval for the feasibility study of the project while chairing a meeting on the proposed project held here on Monday, said a handout.

The meeting was attended by chief minister’s special assistants Kamran Bangash and Shafiullah, Members National Assembly from Dir Muhammad Bashir Khan, Sahibzada Sibghatullah, and Mehboob Shah, Members Provincial Assembly Humayun Khan, Muhammad Azam Khan and Liaqat Ali, Additional Chief Secretary Shakil Qadir, Secretary Communication and Works Ejaz Hussain Ansari, Special Secretary Muhammad Khaliq, Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority managing director and others.

The meeting was given a detailed briefing on three options of routes for the construction of the proposed expressway and the forum agreed on the shortest route, ie Chakdara-Rabaat via Ramla and Ouch.

The proposed expressway will connect Chakdara to Rabaat via Ramla and Ouch villages through a 5km tunnel. The 26km long expressway will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs10.5 billion. Initially, it will be constructed from Chakdara Interchange of Swat Motorway to Rabaat and will further be extended in the next phases.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, during a call on meeting with the parliamentarians of Dir in February 2020, had issued directives to start homework on the project. In the light of the prime minister’s directives, Communication and Works Department and Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority started spadework on the project and came up with three possible options.

The meeting was informed that PC-II for the feasibility of the project had already been prepared and submitted to the forum concerned.

The participants were told that financial and commercial feasibility of the project would be completed in three months, and the proposed expressway would be an alternative to the existing N-45 from Chakdara to Rabaat. It will have a 5km tunnel, which will reduce a travel distance of 23km approximately.

The chief minister termed the proposed expressway an important project to boost tourism and commercial activities in the region and said that on completion, the project would provide better and quality communication facilities to the people of Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Bajaur and Chitral.

He made it clear that the expressway would be a project of the provincial government apart from the proposed Chakdara-Chitral road under CPEC project. The chief minister said the proposed Chakdara-Chitral road project was intact and no funds of the project have been diverted to any other project.

He reiterated his resolve to equally develop all the districts and areas of the province and said that no injustice with regard to development projects would be done to any district.