Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, Barrister Masood Kausar, has directed to expedite efforts to start practical work on construction of new bridge over Indus River at Khushalgarh. During a briefing on the project here at Governor's House on Monday, he assured to take steps to get anticipatory approval from the Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, keeping in view the vital importance of the project.
Member construction of National Highway Authority, Altamash Khan briefed him about salient features of the project as well as the pace of progress made so far. The Governor said, since Rs 700 million had already been made available by the management of MOL as part of 50 percent share of the construction cost of the bridge and there exists no justification to further delay the project.
It merits a mention here that the remaining 50 percent of the expenditure of the project will be borne by NHA itself. Barrister Masood Kausar further pointed out that since financial resources are already available for this particular project, therefore, any further delay on its implementation will result in unnecessary cost escalation too.
He also took keen interest in the work schedule of the project and desired that efforts also needed to be expedited to launch practical work on dualisation of the roads on both sides of the bridge right up to Kohat and Fateh Jang. Meanwhile, the Governor was informed that 130-metre long new bridge would have the dual carriage capacity and it, along with approach roads on both sides, is envisaged to be completed in two years time. He was further informed that the roads right up to Kohat and Fateh Jang will also be dualised under a separate project later on.