Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak directed to immediately complete all codal and procedural requirements of Swat Motorway, leaving no room for any delay.
He was presiding over a meeting of the public private partnership committee of Swat Motorway at CM House, attended by Finance Minister Muzaffar Said, Adviser to Chief Minister on Communication and Works (C&W) Akbar Ayub, chief secretary, administrative secretaries and other relevant officers.
The meeting discussed different dimensions of the Swat Motorway that included the acquisition of additional land, construction of six interchanges, service areas, the future extension, mode of payment and agreement between the two partners and made a number of decisions to accelerate the pace of work and timely completion of the project.
There were two different presentations made by C&W, project director, its consultant and the finance department for funding of the Swat Motorway. They also briefed the participants about different steps in the project. Frontier Works Organisation is a partner of the provincial government in the construction of Swat Motorway that will cost Rs 40 billion and would be completed before 2017. The provincial government would pay the cost within two installments.
There are three different committees to oversee and make decisions about the project. These committees include the committee comprising representatives of the Planning and Development (P&D) Department, Law and FWO which makes decisions at the preliminary level. The second committee that is the unit committee is headed by P&D secretary and third committee is public private partnership committee headed by the chief minister himself.
The chief minister expressed his optimism that Swat Motorway would become a life vein of KP that will redefine the future outlook of the province in terms of enhanced trade and commerce, and industrialisation, opening the entire northern belt of the province to the rest of the country. The confluence of M1 and Swat Expressway would be the future trade centre that will generate a lot of resources and would give jobs to the jobless, he added.
Khattak directed to divert resources to fund Swat Expressway which was being undertaken by his government with its own resources. He insisted that the project must see the light of the day towards the end of 2017. He directed for immediate preparedness by all the line departments to facilitate FWO in smooth undertaking of the project. The chief minister said that 81-kilometre long with 2-kilometre tunnel Swat Motorway was a flagship project.
Chief Minister Khattak directed to acquire land up to 500 kanals at each interchange for the allied facilities and commercial activities that included bus stations, petrol pumps, restaurants and others. He looked for the future extension as it would become a hub of economic activities in no time; therefore, he directed for land procurement and took the project with a futuristic approach. The design should have a design for greenery, beautification and plantation at the interchanges.
The meeting approved and endorsed different recommendations and declared it a legally and financially a viable project. It also approved Rs 5.5 billion loan for the project and the agreement between the two parties. The first installment would be issued immediately and the second installment would be after July next year. The meeting also agreed to appointment of independent engineers and auditors. It also okayed sufficient service road of up to 30 per cent of the total motorway. It was a concessional agreement and the meeting agreed to it subject to the fulfillment of all codal formalities.
