PESHAWAR: Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal called on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak at the CM house on Thursday to discuss progress made so far on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

A statement issued in connection with the meeting said the federal minister had assured the chief minister that the CPEC’s western route would be built on a fast-track basis and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would soon call a meeting of leaders of all political parties to clear their reservations in this regard.

The two leaders agreed to inaugurate the Takhbhai flyover on Dec 30 and open the Lowari tunnel for traffic in 2017. Federal ministers Sikandar Sherpao, Inayatulllah and Shehram Khan Tarakai and provincial ministers Mohammad Atif Khan and Imtiaz Shahid Qur­eshi were present on the occasion.

The chief minister said all resources and facilities provided to the eastern route should be available on the western route, as committed by the federal government.

The CM insisted that Chitral Garam Chashma, Chitral-Bamborat, Chitral-Shandoor, Dir-Chitral, Swat-Fateeh Pur and Swat-Shangla roads, expansion of the Peshawar-Attock GT road and the construction of Kalam road should be completed in one year. The federal minister assured him that all the projects would be completed in the proposed period.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2016