Islamabad: Two tunnels out of 6 have been made operational at Havelian takhot section of the Karakorum Highway (KKH).
Two, out of the six tunnels have been made operational at a very difficult track, while work on the remaining tunnels is in final stages and would be completed as per the schedule time,” Zhu Jiangfan project manager of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) told media.
The total length of the road to be made will be 118.124 km which will be made in 3 sections. The total cost of the project will be about $1.3 billion.
“The first section is from Havelian to Abbottabad with 27 km length, the design speed is 100km/h two-way, 4-lane highway standard, the second stage is from Abbottabad to Mansehra with 11.88 km length, the design speed is 80 km/h two-way 4-lane expressway standard, the third section from Manshera to Thakot is 78.81 km long and designed in two-lane with speed of 60 km/h.” he added.
He assured that 70 percent workforce employed is from Pakistan and 30 percent is Chinese because labour cost in Pakistan is cheaper.
The main structures included in this project are 60 large bridges, 11 flyovers, 464 culverts, 40 underpasses, 45 middle and small bridges, three interchanges, 2 service areas, three tunnel management stations , six tunnels (2 in Expressway section, four in Class-II Highway) and six tool stations
Around 200 mountains had to be chopped down for this road. The Hazara Motorway from Hakla (M-1) to Shah Maqsood Interchange has already been completed and opened for traffic.
These roads are being made according to Chinses standards. The roadbed with expressway section is 24 km and 12.3m in the class-II Highway. As part of this project tree plantation drive has also been launched and Grass is also being planted along the road.
Due to this road project the adjoining areas have witnessed a sharp increase in land prices and an overall reduction in unemployment.
