The Swat Motorway ( ur, , ps, سوات بزرگراه ), also known as the M-16 or Swat Expressway, is a four-lane

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

and provincial controlled-access highway in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Phase-1 of the project, completed in June 2019, connects the existing M-1 motorway at Nowshera to

Chakdara Chakdara (چکدرہ) is a city in Lower Dir District. It's the 2nd largest city after Timergara. It serves as the educational center of Malakand Division and the Gateway of Lower Dir District . It is located north of Malakand near the confluen ...

while the under-construction second phase will extend the project to Fatehpur.

Route

The phase-1 of motorway stretches from Nowshera to

Lower Dir District Lower Dir District ( ps, لر / کوز دير ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Timergara city is the district headquarter and largest city. The district was formed in 1996, when Dir District was di ...

, passing through

Swabi Swabi ( ps, صوابۍ; ur, ) is a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,Mardan Mardān (Pashto and ; Urdu ; Pashto: ) is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). It is a fast-growing ...

, Malakand and Swat districts. The phase-1 of the project was inaugurated in August 2016. and opened for traffic on 3 June 2019 The phase-1 reduced the travel time from Nowshera to Chakdara from three hours to one hour. The Swat motorway phase-1 was constructed by the

Frontier Works Organization The Frontier Works Organization ( ur, )); abbreviated as FWO), is a military engineering organization, and one of the major science and technology commands of the Pakistan Army. Commissioned and established in 1966, the FWO includes active dut ...

at a cost of . The

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

provided the principal technical and financial assistance for the project, while

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

pledged . Phase two of the motorway will extend another 79 kilometers to the north and terminate at Fatehpur. It will pass through Chakdara, Shamozai, Barikot, Mingora, Kanju, Malam Jabba, Sher Palam, Matta Khwazakhela, and ends at Madayan-Fatehpur Interchange. On 16 July 2020, ECNEC approved land acquisition for Swat Motorway Phase-II at a cost of Rs. 20 bn. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government allocated Rs. 70 bn. for the extension The Swat motorway or M-16 should not be confused with the E90 Expressway (Besham–Khwazakhela Expressway) proposed by the

National Highway Authority The National Highway Authority (NHA; ur, ) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Communications (Pakistan), Ministry of Communications (MoCom) of Pakistan. History In 1978, the Government of Pakistan federalised five important inter-prov ...

, which also terminates in Swat.

Swat Phase-II extension

Swat Motorway phase-II will be completed under a public-private partnership. The length of the motorway will be 80-kilometer. It will connect Thana Baizai to Fatehpur. The cost of the project is Rs. 37 billion with an additional Rs. 20.5 billion for the purchase of land. It will have nine interchanges and eight bridges. The motorway would have four lanes with the future possibility of extending it to six lanes. On 11 March 2021, a summary was presented before ECNEC regarding 10,000 kanal land acquisition for Swat Motorway phase-II to be sponsored by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and executed by Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (PKHA) (through Federal PSDP) equal to RS.20,000 million for construction of about 80 km 04-lane motorway from Chakdara to Fatehpur. The Committee approved the said project and strongly recommended to complete such projects on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. https://pakobserver.net/ecnec-approves-4-lane-sambrial-kharian-motorway/

Notes

{{Roads in Pakistan Motorways in Pakistan Expressways in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Route

Swat Phase-II extension

See also

Notes