Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Communications and Works and Local Government Asif Rafiq has called for the digitisation of the provincial road network to improve transparency and speed up public development projects. He issued the directives on Monday while chairing a briefing meeting on the Communications and Works Department in Peshawar. The meeting was attended by Secretary Communications and Works Saqib Raza Aslam, Additional Secretary Waqas Ahmed, Managing Director of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highways Authority Sohail Idrees and other relevant officials. The adviser said that moving the road network onto digital systems would make the work of the department easier to follow and would help development projects reach completion without avoidable delay.
During the meeting, the secretary briefed the adviser on the affairs of the department and on its ongoing development schemes. He highlighted the importance of three road projects, which are Sarozai Hangu, Patrak Kumrat and Abbottabad Nathia Gali. The secretary said that the department was focusing on these flagship schemes, particularly because Kumrat and Nathia Gali attract large numbers of tourists. Roads that lead to such destinations affect both the daily travel of residents and the flow of visitors, which explains why the department has placed them among its priorities and why they were singled out in the briefing given to the adviser.
The meeting also reviewed progress on the Road Asset Management System, which is designed to provide information about the condition of roads across the province through a central dashboard. A single dashboard of this kind would allow officials to see the state of roads in different districts in one place, and it forms the practical basis for the call of the adviser to digitise the road network. The review of the system during the briefing shows that the department already has a digital tool under development, and that the instructions of the adviser build on work that is under way.
Asif Rafiq stressed the need to speed up work on public development projects so that people could benefit from improved infrastructure and facilities without delay. His directives link the two aims that he named, which are greater transparency and faster completion of schemes. With the Road Asset Management System giving a province wide picture of road conditions, and with the three schemes of Sarozai Hangu, Patrak Kumrat and Abbottabad Nathia Gali named as priorities, the adviser has asked the department to carry these projects forward at a faster pace so that residents and visitors can use the new roads sooner.
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