RAWALPINDI:A meeting was held here on Thursday in Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to review the construction work of the Tourism Highway Project.
The meeting was chaired by Chairman RDA Tariq Mehmood Murtaza and attended by MNA, Sadaqat Abbasi, MPA Maj. (R) Latasab Satti, officials of Frontier Works Organization (FWO), Nespak, Tourism Department Punjab and officials of other departments concerned.
The meeting reviewed the progress of the construction work on the project and Nespak was directed to speed up efforts for early completion of the project. The authorities concerned were instructed to complete the missing links in the tourist highway.
The FWO was also directed to speed up the construction work.
Tariq Mehmood Murtaza said that the completion of the project would provide travel facilities to tourists and the local residents would also benefit from this project.
He said the project was mainly started to facilitate tourists and promote tourism in the region, adding that the road would be an alternative route to reach Murree and adjoining areas.
Sadaqat Abbasi said the construction work should be completed as soon as possible.
He asked the authorities concerned to make earnest efforts to resolve the traffic congestion problem being faced by the citizens.
According to an RDA spokesman, the foundation stone of the 123-kilometer tourism highway from Rawat Pandori Chowk to the three hilly tehsils of Rawalpindi — Kahuta, Kotli Sattian and Murree — and further up to Lower Topa to Azad Jammu and Kashmir, was formally laid in April last year.
He informed that the project would be completed at a cost of Rs 4.75 billion.
He said that this would be an alternative road from Rawalpindi to Muzaffarabad, Murree, Kotli Sattian, Kahuta and Kallar Syedan.
To a question, he said that both sides of the expressway would have commercial buildings, plazas, factories, markets, hospitals and educational institutions while large parks would also be set up along the road.
200,000 trees would also be planted on both sides of the road. The facilities would be provided besides green areas for the promotion of tourism.
Moreover, automated signals and LEDs for advertisement would also feature throughout the expressway. The 123-km-long road would be completely signal-free.
He informed that the 123-km-long road would pass through 40 tourist destinations including 35 new destinations.