MANSEHRA: Federal minister for religious affairs Sardar Mohammad Yusuf on Sunday said that work on the multi-billion Mansehra-Chilas motorway, which would connect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Gilgit-Baltistan and onward to China, would commence shortly.

“This is a mega communication project, which has been finalised by the federal government after completion of the survey and work on its execution would begin soon,” he said at the inaugural ceremony of the Kawai-Shogran Road in Kawai area of Kaghan Valley here.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz district president Syed Junaid Ali Qasim and other office-bearers were also in attendance.

Mr Yusuf said that the Mansehra-Babusar Top-Chilas Road would not only enhance tourism in KP and GB but also create employment opportunities.

“The motorway would also help ease heavy traffic burden from the Karakoram Highway and Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road and provide easy access to tourist destinations in Kaghan Valley and GB from across the country,” he said.

The federal minister said that the Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad (MNJ) Road was a gift of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to the people of Hazara division and the rest of the country and now the PML-N would launch this mega communication project to connect KP and GB.

He said that main and link roads were being constructed not only in Mansehra but across Hazara division to provide people with easier access to urban centres.

“We have also provided electricity to more than 1,300 villages in different parts of Mansehra district, which could bring a positive change to the lives of local people who remained deprived of development projects during the 13-year rule of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf governments,” Mr Yusuf said.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026