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

Bureau report

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. The residents had held press conferences to convey their message to the relevant authorities but in vain.

They had even told the former prime minister that they believed that the PTI government wanted to settle its old score with their political opponent Amir Muqam by suspending construction work on the bridges as the contract for those bridges was allotted to his firm.

The elders and residents had told him that the ultimate sufferers were the local residents of Kalam valley and its surrounding villages and tourists coming to Kalam valley from all parts of the country.

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 two years but work on bridges was still pending.

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. He said that his son was harassed and he developed psychological issues and was yet to recover fully.

The elders of Kalam valley accused the provincial government of creating hurdles to building bridges on the main Bahrain-Kalam Road. Interestingly, the construction work on Bahrain-Kalam road was completed in 2018, but the government failed to spend the remaining allotted amount of Rs180 million for building the remaining 13 bridges on the main road.

It was because of these bridges that traffic remained jammed for hours during the summer season.

The Kalam elders and residents had once announced launching agitation outside the Parliament House in Islamabad and lodging an FIR against the then federal minister for communication Murad Saeed as they accused him of being behind the delay in work completion.

They had also asked the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice and order the relevant authorities to honour their promises.