PESHAWAR            -        Chief Minister Khyber pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the pakhtunkhwa highways authority (pKha) to expedite the construction work on swat Motorway phase-2 in addition to meeting the timelines specified for various aspects of Dir Motorway, D I Khan Motorway, and other roads sector projects. The Chief Minister will formally inaugurate the construction work on abbottabad to Thandiani road tomorrow, which is a mega project of the provincial government under the Integrated Tourism Development Project (KITE). While chairing a progress review meeting on the road sector development projects in the province, the Chief Minister stated that every effort is being made to guarantee that the taxpayers’ money is spent judiciously and beneficially to ensure the best value for money. Briefing the meeting regarding the road sector projects under KITe, it was informed that construction work on 24.377 km abbottabad to Thandiani road has been initiated, which will be completed at an estimated cost of rs 3 Billion. Furthermore, construction machinery has been deployed at the site of the 22 km long Mankyal-Bada sarai- Jabai road which will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 5.7 Billion. However, the initial 4 Km alignment of the said project has been damaged due to the recent flash floods and currently, work is underway on its realignment. Moreover, to avoid flood-related damage in the future, the construction of an 85-meter bridge is also proposed at the site. with regards to motorway projects in the province, the chair was informed that construction work on swat Motorway phase-2 has been initiated whereas technical modalities/ requirements of Dir Motorway have been completed and the financial model of the project will be revised soon. similarly, the 46 Km long Buner Motorway project is also under consideration in the Public Private Partnership Unit which is expected to incur rs 25 Billion. The proposed motorway will begin from Ismailia Interchange on swat Motorway and will culminate at pir Baba swarai road near ambela in Buner District. Under the Provincial Roads Improvement project (prIp), 9 different roads are nearing completion whereas 80% of work has been completed on the dualization of the 42 km Mardan-swabi road project. The survey of the 34 km long Kalam- Mataltan-Mahodand road has been completed, whereas the joint survey of the 57 km long Shamozai-Kabal-Kanju-Baghdheri road in District swat is currently in progress. On this occasion, the Chief Minister clarified that the provincial government is working to strengthen the road infrastructure in the province and make it a hub for regional trade and transit. For this purpose, all available resources are being utilized to make the province financially self-sustainable and enable it to play an effective role in national development. The meeting was attended by Chief secretary shahzad Bangash, additional Chief secretary shahab ali shah, administrative secretaries of relevant departments, MD pKha, pD KITe, pD prIp, pD swat Motorway, and other officials.