Paucity Of Funds Delay Dualization Of 83 Km Old Bannu Road

Dualization and upgradation project of 83 kilometre Old Bannu Road in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was supposed to be completed in February this year but it had been delayed due to lack of funds availability, an official of National Highways Authority (NHA) told APP on Thursday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jan, 2020 ) :Dualization and upgradation project of 83 kilometre Old Bannu Road in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was supposed to be completed in February this year but it had been delayed due to lack of funds availability, an official of National Highways Authority (NHA) told APP on Thursday.

The first package of the project, Domail-Khurrum portion is 40 km long, awarded to the Frontier Works Organization, the lowest evaluated bidder, at the bid price of Rs7.132 billion.

The work started in February 2018 and its scheduled completion time is February, 2020 but so far about 14 per cent physical progress has been achieved, the official added.

The 35 km Khurram-Krapa potion is the second package of the project awarded to the same lowest bidder at the bid price of Rs5.927 billion with the same completion period but so far about 12 per cent physical progress has been achieved.

The third package of the project Gaandi Chowk-Sarai Naurang section is 8 km long and was awarded to M/s NCC-IKAN-HRPL Joint Venture, the lowest evaluated bidder, at the bid price of Rs0.718 billion.

The work on the package started in February 2018 and had to be completed by June last year but so far about 44 per cent physical progress of the project has been achieved.

To a question, he said lack of funds availability was the main reason behind delay in the completion of the project.

The NHA official said the development of infrastructure in the less developed areas would contribute to their economic uplift through accelerated trade activities.

He further said the existing road was single carriageway which was being dualized and improved.

He said the project would provide the heavy traffic movement on Indus Highway (N-55) with an alternate route thus sharing the traffic burden with it.

Indus Highway is 1,264 km long that runs along the Indus River connecting port city Karachi with Kohat and Peshawar via D G Khan and D I Khan.

The highway being the second largest road connection after Grand Trunk Road and provides an alternate north-south link while traversing 491 km in Sindh, 360 km in Punjab and 396 km in KP, and connecting Rajanpur, D G Khan, D I Khan, Bannu, Kohat and Peshawar.

The highway, however, is now facing difficulties in coping with the ever increasing traffic load especially the heavy vehicles due to its limited capacity.