PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday inaugurated the first section of the Provincial Swat Motorway being the first of its kind in the country.
Addressing the ceremony, he said that the present government completed Bab-e-Peshawar flyover in the shortest time and initiated Bus Rapid Transit at Peshawar, being the fastest scheme of travelling facilities. He said that Lahore and Islamabad motorways took a long time of 16 months for its completion but BRT Peshawar project would be completed in shortest time of eight months which is a record.
He said that the mega project should have given one year for completion, but “we wished to complete this mega project within our tenure.” He said that the third mega project was the Swat Motorway, the first section of which from motorway Karnal Sher Khan interchange to Dhobian has been opened while in the coming month upto Katlang and on September 30, 2018, the project upto Chakdara will be completed which is another project being completed before its stipulated time.
Provincial Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and FWO Director General Muhammad Afzal Khan also addressed the inaugural ceremony at the Karnal Sher Khan Interchange. Provincial ministers, elite of the area and government officers in large number were present on the occasion.
The chief minister said that the opponent blames that what mega project PTI started in five years. He said that if other parties have started a single mega project in the province in the last 65 years, they should show it to the people. He said that his government not only initiated mega projects of billions of rupees but the real mega projects were education, health, betterment in police system, elimination of corruption and supremacy of merit in which “we have got great success.”
Addressing the ceremony, FWO chief Muhammad Afzal Khan said that the Swat Motorway was a game changer for the area which would be remembered for centuries. He said that the completion of this project would lesser the distance upto Chakdara as 95km and the distance from the motorway to Chakdara would be covered in 45 minutes.
He said that 50 thousand trees would also be planted on either side of Swat Motorway to beautify it. He said that 1.3km lengthy double tunnel was the first ever twin tube tunnels which have been constructed with day and night work. He said that 81km lengthy motorway has 17 interchanges, 21 bridges, 533 small structures. The Swat Motorway is four lanes and it has the capacity of six lanes in future.
