Dir Motorway To Revolutionize Trade, Tourism In Region: MNA

Dir Motorway, a federal government funded projects, is aimed at revolutionizing the tourism and trade activities besides providing state-of-the-art commuting facility to the people traveling to northern most districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Nov, 2021 ) :Dir Motorway, a Federal government funded projects, is aimed at revolutionizing the tourism and trade activities besides providing state-of-the-art commuting facility to the people traveling to northern most districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Member National Assembly from Dir Lower, Sayed Mehboob Shah expressed these views while talking to APP on Friday.

He said this much-needed connectivity project in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will boost tourism and trade activities throughout the region.

Apparently, this is a 29.4 km long, four-lane highway, which begins and ends in the Lower Dir district of KP, but in a larger context, the project will bring development and prosperity to the region.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa desired to include Dir Motorway in CPEC projects and extend its route to China.

Shah said the Dir Motorway will ultimately be connected to Chitral and Gilgit, and revolutionize trade activities between Pakistan and China. This highway is proposed to be stretched to 214 kilometers if included in the CPEC project.

Shah informed that it is also one of the three major development projects worth PKR 339 billion approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) adding that the KP Government has expressed interest in including Swat Expressway Phase 2 in CPEC.

"Dir Motorway, starting from Chakdara, is both part of the tourism route to the north and will ultimately connect to Chitral, Gilgit, and transform trade with China," Mehboob Shah said.

Meanwhile, official sources informed that Dir Motorway will be constructed with an estimated cost of Rs. 38.9 billion. The four-lane motorway will be constructed between Chakdara and Rabat town of Dir Lower.

The Government of KP is sponsoring the project that will be executed by Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority.

The sources said the highway would later be made a six-lane motorway to further expand its scope and utility.

The projects include construction of bridges, underpasses, flyovers and tunnels. Dir Motorway, which will start from Chakdara and end at Rabat town, located close to the border of Upper Dir district. Upper Dir touches Chitral district, which shares borders with Gilgit Baltistan.

If included in Chitral-Chakdara Motorway (M-1) and CPEC, as desired by the KP government, the project will connect Chitral, the northernmost district of KP, with Chakdara Lower Dir. The length of the proposed Motorway is 214 kilometers. The Chitral Motorway will join Swat Expressway at Chakdara to reach Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M1) at Karnal Sher Khan Interchange close to Rashakai Special Economic Zone.

Recently, Commissioner Malakand Division Syed Zaheerul islam during a meeting held to review progress on ongoing projects informed that construction work on the 29.4 kilometers Dir Motorway would start soon.

The meeting participants were briefed that the four-lane dual carriageway would start from Chakdara and end in Rabat area. It would consist of three interchanges, three toll plazas, two tunnels, four overpasses, four flyovers, seven subways, two underpasses, four cattle passes, four culverts and 24 bridges.

The meeting was told that the government also plans the inclusion of Swat Expressway Phase 2 in CPEC. The 82-kilometer long expressway will connect Chakdara town of Lower Dir with Fatehpur, Swat. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 57.5 billion.