Federal Communications Minister Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan Khalil said the new Chakdara Bridge would be completed in 18 months at a cost of Rs 480 million. He said construction work on the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded project will start in the next 10 days. Khalil stated that the flash floods of 2010 caused a loss of Rs 22 billion to the communications sector, out of which Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share was Rs11 billion.
He added that the rehabilitation cost of the highways and bridges affected is estimated to be Rs 23 billion. He said construction work on 48 projects will be started. According to a press release issued, Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan expressed these views while inspecting the construction work during his surprise visit to the Chakdara Bridge. The federal minister said the 307 meters long New Chakdara Bridge will have 7 spans and will be 1.5 meters higher than the older bridge. Two spans of the old bridge will also be reconstructed to keep it operational. Dr Arbab added that to keep the traffic flow intact during the construction process, a diversion costing 9.5 million will also be constructed to avoid any disruption of traffic.
