Karakoram Highway Phase-II opens for traffic

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The whole line of Havelian-Thakot of the Karakoram Highway Phase-II (KKH), a project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), has opened for traffic.

“This mega road project has been completed under CPEC initiatives, which would prove to be the backbone of the country’s economy and provide employment opportunities to a large portion of the population," Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), at the imagination ceremony. 

The 79-kilometer-long Class-II Highway Mansehra-Thakot and the Havelian-Mansehra expressway section, launched in November 2019, constitute the 118-kilometer Havelian-Thakot section. 

Karakoram Highway, the only overland connection between China and Pakistan at present, was built with funding from China during the period of 1966 to 1978. 

The first phase of KKH’s renovation and expansion project had been completed in 2013. 

The following year, a memorandum on the second phase of KKH was signed between Pakistan and China. The KKH-II has three sections, namely, Havelian-Thakot, Havelian-Islamabad and Thakot-Raikot. 

According to the Havelian-Thakot project’s contractor, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), besides this section, the Havelian-Islamabad section has also been completed so far. Only the Thakot-Raikot section is yet to be constructed.