Kalam-Bahrain Road: Amir Muqam asks NHA to start work on bridges

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial head Amir Muqam Khan has directed the National Highways Authority (NHA) to immediately start work on the remaining 13 bridges on Kalam-Bahrain road so that local residents and tourists coming from all over the country didn’t face problems.

According to Amir Muqam Khan, work on 13 bridges was stopped on the instructions of former federal minister for communication Murad Saeed that caused traffic jams during summer.

The elders and residents of Kalam valley had staged protests against suspension of construction work on 13 bridges on Kalam-Bahrain road and asked then prime minister Imran Khan to take note of their suffering. But their voices were not heard as the tender for the bridges was advertised three times and each time it was won by the construction firm of Amir Muqam.

The then government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had allocated Rs10 billion fund for the Bahrain-Kalam road. The contract was allotted to three different contractors. The road was completed in 2018 but work on bridges was still pending dispite and allocated amout of Rs 180m causing massive traffic jams.

Interestingly, each time some powerful people in the government, which Amir Muqam Khan believed was Murad Saeed, would cancel it. He claimed it caused his company millions of losses, saying they had become personal with him and didn’t even spare his young son and arrested him upon his return from studies in England. The elders of Kalam valley accused the provincial government of creating hurdles to building bridges on the main Bahrain-Kalam Road.