KP Grants In-Principle Approval for Dir Motorway

PESHAWAR: In-principle approval for the construction of the Dir Motorway, which is a 29-kilometer road infrastructure project connecting the Chakdara Interchange and Baroon in Lower Dir at an approximate cost of Rs. 69 billion, has been made by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public-Private Partnership Committee. In this regard, the in-principle approval for the Dir Motorway KP PPP has been made during a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar.

This project, the approval of the Dir Motorway KP PPP, puts the project at the top of road infrastructure projects in recent times within the Malakand Division – a route that cuts through the region that is among the most populous of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

CM Afridi’s Directions – Speed and Structural Reforms

Dir Motorway: Dir Motorway Construction approval had its directions laid out by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, which not only convey the need for speed but also structural reforms in the KP PPP regime.

"Immediately commence the process of land acquisition required for the project and set up implementation time lines to ensure the construction of the motorway within the specified period."
Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi

However, in addition to the guidelines for individual projects, the CM directed concerned departments to suggest amendments in the current PPP model in order to facilitate a faster and efficient process of implementing development projects through the PPP model throughout the province of KP.

What the Motorway Will Bring - Economic and Tourist Benefits

The Chief Minister of Malakand, Afridi, referred to the Dir Motorway KP PPP as a great gift from the province’s government of Imran Khan to the people of Malakand Division, mentioning the following four benefits of the project:

Travel time reduction: The existing route via Chakdara and into Lower Dir is marked by traffic, poor road condition, and rugged landscape that contributes to increased travel time. The construction of the motorway-standard road will greatly reduce travel time for the commuters, commercial traffic, and tourists using this route.

Reduced fuel and transport costs: Travel time reduction and good road conditions will reduce the amount of fuel used per trip – resulting in reduced fuel cost for the trucks, buses, and cars that use this route.

Tourism development: Lower Dir and the entire Malakand Division boasts many of the best-known natural wonders of KP – Kumrat Valley, Kalam, Swat, among others that attract local tourists in large numbers every year.

Better access to these sites through the Dir Motorway KP PPP Project will result in an increase in visitors due to extended tourism seasons.

Employment and economic activity: Such road infrastructure creates immediate employment opportunities during the construction period as well as economic opportunities in the long term through enhanced commercial linkages.

Malakand Division: Its Strategic Importance

The approval of the Dir Motorway Construction under the KP PPP scheme does not only have importance for Lower Dir alone. The Malakand Division, which includes Dir, Swat, Chitral, Buner, Shangla, and Malakand, has been the habitat of millions of Pakistanis who depend on roads in connecting with the rest of the country's economy.

Chakdara is already located at an important transportation junction in the Malakand passageway, where there is the Swat Motorway that connects it to Swat and also acts as a gateway for all the roads leading to Upper Dir, Chitral, and beyond. The building of a motorway in Lower Dir will be enhancing the whole network rather than just a specific link.

KP Motorway Scheme Review

Alongside the Dir Motorway Project Review meeting, there was also progress made on two other important motorways in KP:

• Peshawar-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway: linking the provincial capital of KP to DI Khan in the south
• Swat Motorway Phase-II: the extension of the KP’s tourism connection project in the Swat Valley

Each project was evaluated on measures ensuring timely implementation – in line with the KP government’s aim of developing several motorways at once instead of successively.

The approval of the Dir Motorway under the KP PPP brings the third main route into this plan – placing the Malakand Division’s connectivity revamp as an equal priority next to the Peshawar-DI Khan and Swat Phase-II projects already being implemented.