Pakistan Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif Sunday opened a key road in the south Waziristan tribal region to facilitate trade with neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said.
The Central Trade Corridor (CTC) is a strategic road link to facilitate trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan and will directly and indirectly help revive the local economy in the country's tribal regions and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Xinhua quoted the army as saying in a statement.
Militancy and violent extremism have badly affected economic activities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) over the past several years. The security forces have cleared most of the areas from the Taliban and foreign militants. The army has eliminated militants from south Waziristan following a major offensive in 2009.
The CTC, an international standard 705-km-long road network through the southern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, is being built by army engineers and funded by friendly countries, the statement said.
The army chief inaugurated a 76-km important section between Shakai and Makeen, two main towns in south Waziristan.
"Apart from other economic, security and strategic advantages, the newly constructed roads have reduced travelling times considerably," the army said.
