The symbol FWO stands for Frontier Works Organization and presently it is synonymous with the largest construction agency undertaking various types of construction agency work all over Pakistan. However it has come a long way from its purely limited assignment for which it was created in 1966. FWO owes its antencedents to project of national importance when it was decided in the early sixties under the existing geopolitical compulsions to establish a road link with China.

The magnitude of the task become apparent when the moment came to transfer this dream into reality. The amount of the sheer effort involved in tacking the mountainous portions of Karakoram was mind-boggling. However since a firm.the commitment had been entered upon by the Goverment of Pakistan with the People Republic of China The project became a matterof national importance and test of resolution of Government of Pakistan to meet its commitment.

The task was thereafter assigned to the Army in view of the sensitive nature of the project but more so because of the difficulty of working in inaccessible remote areas. Pakistan Army using its Corps of Engineers had already worked in 1959 in connecting Gilgit with Pakistan through the Indus Valley Road and hence had the necessary infrastructure already present in the area.

In the summer of 1966 a special organisation was created by Pakistan Army for the construction of 805 Kilometer Karakoram Highway Road commonly called KKH. The funding was provided by the Ministry of Communication which exercised their control over the gigantic project on behalf of Goernment of Pakistan. Thus was born the Organisation known as FWO which laer on in collaboration with the Chinese engineers undertook this gigantic task.