Punjab, K-P backtrack on highway projects

IPP president Aleem Khan addressing party workers in Taxila on November 9, 2023. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has expressed dissatisfaction over delays in key infrastructure projects and directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to accelerate work, including completing stalled schemes independently where provincial commitments have not been fulfilled.

Chairing a high-level review meeting of the NHA on Friday, the minister said delays caused by provincial non-compliance were affecting progress on critical national road infrastructure and would no longer be tolerated, said a press release.

He specifically highlighted that after more than five-month wait for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government regarding the Peshawar Northern Bypass, the NHA is now prepared to complete the project independently if provincial funds are not forthcoming.

Furthermore, he observed that the Punjab government has remained unable to deliver its promised share for the Rawalpindi-Kahuta project, leading to his directive that the NHA assume full responsibility for finalising these incomplete transit corridors.

In tandem with these administrative directives, Federal Minister Abdul Aleem Khan ordered a strategic expansion of the Motorway network, mandating that the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway be widened from four to six lanes and ensuring the Sialkot-Kharian and Kharian-Rawalpindi segments are constructed as six-lane facilities.

The minister emphasised the necessity of meeting strict technical and temporal benchmarks, instructing that the feasibility of all NHA projects must reach 100 percent accuracy and that the final phases of ongoing works—particularly the bridges on the Peshawar Northern Bypass must be concluded before the July monsoon season.