Recently, advisor to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Engineer Amir Muqam, inaugurated reconstruction work on the Kalam road in Bahrain area of Swat, which was destroyed in floods in 2010.

However, Mr Muqam’s visit annoyed Syed Jafar Shah of ANP, who defeated the former in the last general elections in the PK-85 constituency. Mr Shah is the only ANP leader in the entire Malakand division who won the assembly seat amid the ‘tsunami’ of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf in May 2013.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the road, these two political rivals held two separate political shows in the main bazaar of Bahrain. The supporters of Mr Shah along with the fiery PTI workers staged a protest against the inauguration. They also blocked their way for a while; but fortunately, the local administration and police eased a likely bloody clash between the supporters of both the parties.

Both the leaders claimed to have got approved Rs480 million for restoration of the 36 kilometer road from Bahrain to Kalam. For quite a long time, Mr Shah has been active on social media claiming he has got the road approved by the National Highway Authority. He claims that the ANP senators in Islamabad have transferred their ‘discretionary’ funds for the said road upon his request.

On the other hand, Mr Muqam claims that it was actually he who had convinced the National Highway Authority to sanction funds for the road.

Whosoever of the two is right we don’t know, but what both evade telling to public needs to be brought into the notice of the authorities, especially the prime minister.

In April 2011, the National Highway Authority signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank for a loan under the ADB’s Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project for Pakistan. Under the agreement, the NHA had to reconstruct the N95: Chakdara-Kalam Road under its Chakdra Kalam Road Project. The 131 Kilometers road from Chakdara to Kalam was divided into three sections namely Chakdara-Mingora (35km); Mingora-Fatepur (45km); and Fatepur to Kalam (50.7 km). Of these, section 3 (Fatepur-Kalam) was the most damaged one by the floods.

For over six months the people of Kalam, Mankiyal, Torwal, Utror Ushu and the adjacent villages had to walk to Fatepur in order to take food and other daily use items. Pak Army, however, somehow restored a jeep track over the period.

Keeping the misery of people in mind, the NHA decided to start work on this section in 2012. For the purpose, the authority acquired land and duly paid compensation to the people.

In early 2013, the NHA started construction work on the two demarcated portions from Fatepur to Bahrain and almost completed the section except building bridges.

This scribe met the NHA authorities a number of times to try to find out the cause of delay in start of work on the remaining section of the road, but the authority failed to give any clear answer. Sometimes, the NHA would say that the ADB had taken the funds back as the authority couldn’t meet its deadlines. At other times they would say that they were in negotiations with ADB so as to relax the preconditions.

Owing to apathy and politics of our institutions and politicians alike, it is now believed that the allocated funds might have been diverted to similar works in Punjab or in Sindh as the ADB’s 600,000 US dollar Floods Emergency Reconstruction Project is also going on in the two provinces.

Now, with a little money allocated for this important project, it is likely that the standard of work on the road would be compromised with the PML-N and ANP leaders vying for taking credit for reconstruction of the road.

What needs to be done is action from the top to ensure that the road is rebuilt as per the standards and not a single penny is wasted.

Another reason for maintaining quality of work on the road is that it plays a crucial part in bringing tourists to the picturesque valley.

Mr Muqam should also be reminded of his off-repeated promise that he would construct a unique expressway from Madyan to Kalam on both sides of the River Swat. The area is among the most neglected and marginalised ones in Pakistan, though it has abundant natural resources in the form of forests, valleys, streams, glaciers, lakes and peaks. The successive governments have never given it its due share of attention.

Instead of playing politics on the issue, our leaders must join hands and rescue the people from the floods of misery, haplessness and deprivation.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2014