US to provide USD 14.1 mln to Pak for construction of bypass

The US will provide USD 14.1 million to Paksitan for the construction of 27.45 km Mattani bypass in the restive semi-autonomous FATA to beef up security in the key region close to the border with Afghanistan.
The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) of the US will provide the money to Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) Secretariat for opening an alternate route to circumvent heavy traffic between the Indus Highway and Torkham, allowing for easy and secured access to the remote region, the US Consulate said in a statement here.
The project is expected to be completed by March 2016.

The INL-Pakistan is presently working on several border security projects and has provided USD 10 million to the Frontier Corps to assist in the construction of border outposts.
To date, INL-Pakistan has constructed over 650 kilometres of roads in the FATA, which has resulted in increased access for police to ungoverned areas in the key region which straddles between the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In 2014, the US Ambassador Richard Olson and Pakistan Economic Affairs Division Secretary Muhammad Saleem Sethi signed a bilateral assistance agreement, under which INL agreed to provide USD 41.8 million to support Pakistan in improving its law enforcement capabilities and reforming its criminal justice system.

The INL-Pakistan road projects include the upgradation and remodelling of the Peshawar Southern Ring Road and the Kanju- Madyan Road, for which the US had provided USD 25 million and USD 15 million respectively.