MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 16: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has taken strong exception to the alleged substandard construction of an important artery by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), and has decided to take up the matter with the National Highway Authority (NHA).
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held here on Tuesday to review the progress in communications sector.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider and attended among others by Minister for Works Col (retired) Raja Mohammad Nasim and Minister for Finance and Planning and Development Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan.
The meeting reviewed construction of inter-district and inter-provincial roads in various parts of Kashmir and felt shocked by the standard of work on Muzaffarabad-Chakothi road, according to sources.The Kohala-Muzaffarabad-Chakothi road was taken over by the NHA after the October 2005 earthquake. The authority tasked the FWO, a subsidiary of Pakistan army, with its widening and improvement against Rs1,650 million.
According to the NHA website, the project commenced in May 2007 and its “approved and expected” date of completion is March 2010. But the project already lags behind its schedule and the ongoing rains have exposed the quality of work as roadside walls and blacktopping in most areas had been wiped out.
Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Haider pointed out that AJK Public Works Department (PWD) would be demonised for being “unable to deliver” but while the (protection) walls built years ago by the PWD along Muzaffarabad-Chakothi road were still intact those recently constructed by the FWO had caved in by the first rain of season.
The prime minister also expressed resentment over the standard of work on Kohala-Muzaffarabad section and asked the minister for works to take up the issue of “poor construction” by the FWO with the NHA.
He also directed the officials to take all possible steps for the completion of a road between Muzaffarabad and Athmuqam being built by a Chinese construction company.
He was of the view that the AJK government could not remain oblivious to the quality of work as ultimately it had to take care of these arteries. www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/muzaffarabadchakothi-road-fwo-disappoints-azad-kashmir-govt-720
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