World Bank to Award $300 Million to Fix the Roads in KP

The condition of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) roads has been deteriorating for many years due to neglect, and traveling on such roads has caused great inconvenience for the public.

For example, over 70 percent of the 21,679 km long road network is in a bad state. About 85 percent of the rural population finds it difficult to commute to hospitals and educational institutions due to poorly maintained roads. It takes more than an hour to get to a hospital for 40 percent of the rural population. Additionally, 45 out of every 1,000 newborn babies in KP die even before they are a month old because they cannot reach health care facilities in time because of the dilapidated roads.

An amount of $300 million from the World Bank under its International Development Association (IDA) resources has already been requested for the development of KP’s roads. However, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) will give its final approval for the five-year project of rehabilitation of the affected roads.

Prior to this, $500 million was required for the development of roads while the government spent only $93 million on the project in the last five years. The approval of a $2.4 billion road project has now become crucial and neglecting it will result in a loss of $274 million.

Aided by the funds from the World Bank, the development project, once approved, will be completed in five years. Subsequently, many people will benefit from the rehabilitation of the roads, including 6 to 16-year-olds who are currently unable to travel to school.



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