Timergara - Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan on Thursday said that Chakdara to Dir Motorway was a gift by him for people of Dir and Chitral. The Chief Minister rejected the impression that funds allocated for Chakdara-Dir Expressway had been converted to Chakdara-Swat Motorway.
In his voice message to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) tehsil Timergara President Malik Fawad Khan, the Chief Minister clarified that Chakdara-Dir Expressway project was intact and the funds already approved by the Korean Exim Bank would be spent on the construction of Chakdara-Dir Expressway with the assistance of National Highways Authority (NHA).
Mahmood Khan said the federal government had allocated Rs20 billion for land acquisition for extension of 81km Chakdara-Swat Motorway which was a project of the provincial government with public private partnership and which had nothing to do with Chakdara-Dir Expressway.
“Chakdara-Dir Motorway is yet another gift by the provincial government for the people of Dir and Chitral,” Mahmood Khan said adding the feasibility of the project would be completed by 31st of the current month and soon construction work would be initiated.
It is worth to mention that last week Awami National Party (ANP) spokesman Zahid Khan had claimed that the government had converted funds meant for Chakdara-Dir Expressway to the Swat Motorway after which the residents of Dir took to the social media and started criticising the provincial government and elected members from Dir.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Chief Minister (SACM) Malik Shafiullah termed allegations levelled by ANP spokesman Zahid Khan as baseless and unwarranted.
Talking to this scribe at Saddo Timergara Malik Shafiullah said that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan was very kind to the people of Dir and assured that Chakdara-Dir Motorway project besides other mega projects would be completed during the current tenure of the provincial government.
Swat Motorway was a project of the KP government whereas the Chakdara-Dir Expressway was a joint project of National Highways Authority and the Korean company Exim Bank and neither funds allocated for the project were transferred anywhere nor it was possible to utilise the already allocated funds for any other project, Malik Shafiullah said.