January 2011
The first of 66 bridges to be rebuilt in Pakistan, replacing some of those destroyed by severe flooding in 2010 and regional conflict, has been completed.
The BBC issued a special report from the Swat Valley as the final components were installed. Click here to watch the broadcast. Halcrow’s Usman Mumtaz was interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the floods and outlined the rebuilding objectives to the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool. Click here to view.
Halcrow is providing design and supervision services for the replacement bridges – 50 of which will be constructed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and 16 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) – between September 2010 and March 2013. Work is now underway on the next three structures.
The project aims to establish and demonstrate a rigorous approach for prioritising sites and installing bridges in areas where they will be of most benefit. Since the floods swept away hundreds of structures, many communities have effectively been cut off. The new bridges will replace makeshift structures; reconnecting villages and allowing vehicles to travel freely for the first time in months.
Funded by the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID), the prefabricated steel bridges represent the first installment of a pre-agreed £10 million project which has been brought forward to help Pakistan recover from the floods. Civil works for the bridges will be funded by the provincial authorities.
In addition to this vital transport infrastructure, Halcrow is also providing technical oversight for 40 semi-permanent schools as part of the accelerated project. The prefabricated facilities will replace schools damaged by conflict in the Swat Valley.
Halcrow previously worked with DFID and the Asian Development Bank to replace 41 bridges in Pakistani Kashmir damaged by the 2005 earthquake that rocked the region.