Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Improvement, upgradation and expansion project of the 167 km strategic road Skardu-Jaglot Road (S-1) is continuing at a good pace and so far over 83 per cent progress has been achieved.
An official of the National Highway Authority told on Monday that its upgradation would enhance the comfortable road ride for locals as well as tourists by increasing the width of the road from 3.6 to 7.3 meters and reducing the sharp turns.
He said that the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had given the approval of the project on July 10, 2017, and its revised cost would be established as 32.325 billion. During the present fiscal year, Rs 2 billion have been allocated for the project, he said.
The official said the project has been assigned to Frontier Works Organization (FWO) which had laid the initial track in 1984. Jaglot-Skardu road, the official said, a major link between Karakoram Highway and Skardu has 3.66-meter width of blacktop. The difficult terrain has intense snowfall and major rock sliding, the NHA official added.
