Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Saturday performed the ground breaking of a bridge on Indus River to connect Bhakkar and Dera Ismail (DI) Khan.
Costing Rs7 billion, the bridge would establish a new road link between Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to facilitate the transportation of agricultural produces and other goods.
The federal government would fund the project and Rs400 million had been allocated for it during fiscal 2017-18.
Currently, there are 15 crossing points over River Indus with none including bridges, barrages and head works being wider than 20 feet which is insufficient to accommodate the traffic congestion and load.
The bridge will link Kallur Kot area of Bhakkar and DI Khan’s Dhaki area by reducing distance from 80 kilometers to just 15 kilometers. Other linking point between Kallur Kot and Dhaki is DI Khan-Darya Khan bridge and it takes around two and half hours to cover the distance of 126 kilometers.
Under the project, four-lane bridge would be 1.28 kilometers long and the total stretch of roads on both the carriageways would be around 14.2 kilometers.
The design life of the bridge is 100 years with the traffic speed to be set at 100 kilometers per hour.
The project would take around 18 months to complete. Being a component of China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the bridge will be linked with DI Khan-Islamabad motorway.

Source: APP