PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to complete land acquisition for Dir Expressway project at the earliest and thereafter the construction work of the project should be undertaken.

A two-member bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar disposed of a petition, seeking direction of the court for early completion of the widening and improvement of NA-45 (Chakdara-Chitral Highway) as part of CPEC’s western route and construction of Dir Expressway (Chakdara-Rabat), after assurance was given by representatives of National Highway Authority and KP Highway Authority that steps had been taken for completion of both the projects.

They stated that acquisition process for land for the construction of expressway from Chakdara to Rabat and onward from Dir to Chitral was under way, which would take some time.

The bench directed that the process should be completed at the earliest so as to alleviate the sufferings of the residents of the districts concerned.

Disposes of plea for speedy completion of road projects

The petition was filed by two residents of Dir Lower district named Rahim Shah Akhunkhail and Prof Wali Rahman.

They requested the court that apart from N-45, it might also direct the government to expedite work on the 29.6-kilometre Dir Expressway from Chakdara to Rabat.

The respondents in the petition were CPEC Authority through its chairman, federal ministry of planning and development, federal secretary economic affairs, ECNEC through its chairman, NHA through its chairman, KP Highway Authority through its managing director, KP chief secretary and provincial secretary finance.

Advocate Malik Mohammad Ajmal appeared for the petitioner whereas assistant attorney general Ashfaq Ahmad Daudzai, advocates Sikander Rashid and Khalilullah Khalil represented the federal government, NHA and KPHA, respectively.

The petitioners’ counsel stated that the friendly country Peoples Republic of China had started the Built and Road Initiative (BRI) worldwide and one of its projects was commonly known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

He said that according to official documents, N-45 was part of CPEC. He said that as per available record, all the schemes under CPEC were categorised as completed, under-construction and pipeline projects. He added that N-45 had duly been approved by ECNEC as a western route and under-construction project.

Malik Ajmal claimed that the respondents due to reasons best known to them had been delaying the project.

He stated that another project was that of Dir Expressway, a 29.6-kilometre long road to be completed at a cost of Rs38.8 billion. He added that its PC-I had already been completed and was mentioned as a pipeline project.

The counsel stated that another project was that of Shandur-Chitral road, an alternate route of Karakoram Highway. It would be 153-kilometre long and would cost $16 billion. He stated that it was showed as an under-construction project and its groundbreaking ceremony had taken place in April 2021. The counsel stated that there was also a proposal to extend Dir Expressway to China by stretching it around 214-kilometre at a cost of Rs339 billion.

Mr Ajmal stated that Chakdara to Timergara section of N-45 called as Section-1 would be about 38.85-kilometre and would include the widening and rehabilitation of the said route.

He claimed that the route from Chakdara to Timergara was shown as under-construction project but there was nothing on record about the route from Timergara to Dir.

He contended that delay in construction of the said roads was an injustice with the inhabitants of the areas from where the roads would be passing.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2022