PESHAWAR, Aug 27: The NWFP government has sanctioned Rs842 million for the construction of another flyover in the provincial capital. According to officials, the construction of the Mufti Mehmood Flyover at the Rehman Baba intersection, as part of the current Annual Development Programme, was aimed at reducing traffic congestion there.

A flyover at the same junction — from the Khyber Bazaar to the Grand Trunk Road — was completed a few months ago.

Officials said the recently-built flyover had helped in reducing traffic congestion near the intersection, but a parallel flyover on the Shershah Suri Road, near the Peshawar High Court and NWFP Assembly buildings, was essential as a long-term measure.

The flyover, proposed to be built in three years, has been named after former chief minister and father of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Mufti Mehmood.

The provincial government has already named an English-medium school in Dera Ismail Khan district after Maulana Mufti Mehmood. Its estimated cost was Rs90 million.

Officials at the City Development and Municipal Department (CD&MD), the implementing agency for the project, explained that the construction plan had been prepared in accordance with technical inputs of the Nespak. The plan was reviewed at a meeting chaired by NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani a few days ago, they said.

At the meeting the chief minister asked the CD&MD officials to accelerate the project’s pace of work besides assigning certain tasks to various departments.

The project would adversely affect activities at the buildings of various government departments, including Radio Pakistan, Animal Husbandry, Traffic Headquarters and the offices of the works and services department, located near the Bacha Khan Chowk.

Nazim of Peshawar District Haji Ghulam Ali was directed to negotiate with the departments concerned while the Livestock Department would prepare a rehabilitation plan for its demolished structures.