ISLAMABAD – The phase-II (Havelian-Thakot) Karakoram Highway (120 km)reflects the high-standard and rapid pace work of the CPEC-related projects.

A media team, during visit to the project witnessed unprecedentedcommitment, professional caliber and hard work on the part of the Chinesecompany that is working day and night to get it completed at the earliest.

It is our utmost effort to make the highway open for the public by March2020, said Zhu Jiangfan project manager of China CommunicationsConstruction Company (CCCC) while briefing the visiting journalists at theconstruction’s site.

Havelian-Thakot is described as the early harvest project of CPEC with thelength of 120 kilo meters. Work on it was commenced on 1st Sep, 2016.

Since, May 2018, 1637 Chinese staff, 7097 Pakistani workers with 3254 setsof mechanical equipments are employed on the project.

The project sets to become a major source of employment for the locals. Thefurther development of the project will bring more opportunities, he added.

The cost of project is dollar 1.3 billion and till now 50 % work has beencompleted. It was divided into three sections for the smooth and speedyconstruction.The first sections is from Havelian to Abbottabad with 27.425 km lengthhaving 4 lanes highway standard, the second stage is from Abbottabad toMansehra with 11.880 km length with two lanes expressway standard while thethird sections is from Mansehra to Thakot having 78.819 km with two lanes.

He also added that the whole project includes 60 large bridges, 45 middleand small bridges, 11 flyovers and 6 tunnels in the mainline and theconstruction was extremely difficult but the commitment of both Chinese andPakistani workers have made the smooth progress possible.More than 200 mountains were cut for the construction of the road withheave and modern machinery but this difficult work did not let down thecommitment of the work force committed for the execution of projectsmoothly.

Under such difficult conditions, the staff always adheres to the vision of“making world smoother, making cities more livable and living better” andabide by the corporate tenet of “building road and bridges, contributing tothe society”, added Zhu.

The completion of the project will cut down the travelling time from 6hours to two hours and it will also explore new business and jobopportunities for the locals.

Project manager also told that the construction work on the project is infull swing and the co-working of Chinese and Pakistani workers is a bestopportunity to learn from the experiences of each other.

Shared working does not only give opportunity to learn from eachother’sexperience but it also gives understanding of different cultures,traditions and professional values.

The smooth execution of this ambitious project will open bring new era ofprosperity to the underdeveloped areas of the province.