ISLAMABAD: Following the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, National Highway Authority (NHA) has been striving to expand and modernise road network in the country to keep up with growing needs of the transport.
An official of NHA said on Sunday that Pakistan’s present leadership has made development of an integrated road network as one of its top most priorities and game-changer projects like China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Peshawar-Karachi Motorway are parts of the same effort.
He said that the authority has been developing infrastructure projects through private sector on the Build Own Operate (BOO) and Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis.
For the first time in the history of Pakistan, three Build Operate Transfer projects, costing Rs 91 billion have been rewarded which will generate Rs 366 billion over the concession
Period, he added.
He said CPEC is the name of building roads from Khunjerab to Gwadar adding that a number of sections of this mega project have been completed and remaining sections are under construction.
The official said that the CPEC project comprises modern highway and railway transportation system linking Kashgar in West China to Khunjerab in the north and onwards to Karachi and Gawadar in the south of Pakistan through multiple routes.
He said that the 784-kilometer segment from Khunjerab to Burhan consists of Karakoram Highway (KKH), out of which 335 kilometre from Khunjerab to Raikot has already been upgraded adding that the remaining part from Raikot to Islamabad is divided into three sub sections of Raikot-Thakot, Thakot-Havelian and Havelian-Islamabad.
He said the construction work on 120 kilometres Thakot-Havelian section of Hazara Motorway has started after its ground breaking by the prime minister recently adding that the work on 59 kilometre Burhan-Havelian of Hazara Motorway going smoothly and it would be completed by end of 2017 at cost of Rs 34 billion.
He said this road link is also a part of CPEC agreement adding that the 60-kilometres long expressway would reduce the drive time from Islamabad to Havelian to just 30 minutes and it will facilitate the Havelian Dry Port project.
He said such projects act as guarantors of economic and social well being while boosting employment, reducing cost of accessing markets, providing means of improved opportunities and ensuring the provision of basic services at the grassroots level.
The official further said Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9), which connects Karachi to Hyderabad is going to be 136 kilometres long with 16 exits and is going to cost about Rs 24 billion adding that the project was inaugurated on March 16, 2015 and it is expected to be completed within 2.5 years.
He said the M-9 would later be linked to the Karachi-Lahore and Karachi-Gawadar motorways to constitute the longest tract in the motorway network.
He said that during past three years, the NHA has completed 58 kilometres Multan-Khanewal Motorway worth of Rs 14 billion, 150 kilometres Qila Saifullah-Zhob Highway worth of Rs 8.3 billion and 68 kilometres Sukkur-Jacababad worth of Rs 8.5 billion.
He said that the NHA also completed Rs 10.3 billion Faisalabad-Gojra section of motorway, which has the total length of 58 km, 384 km Raikot-Khunjerab worth of 490 million dollar, 64 km WaighumRud-Khjuri road at the cost of Rs 13 Billion, 7.6 km Peshawar Northern Bypass (Package-I) at the cost of Rs 22 billion.
He said other projects completed during past three years include 41.5 km Babusar Top-Chilas Road at the cost of Rs 16 Billion, 3.6 km Khushalgarh Bridge and access roads at the cost of Rs 12 billion, Earthquake Memorial Bridge, Muzaffarabad worth of Rs 15 billion and 193 km Gawadar-Turbat-Hoshab Highway worth of Rs 13 billion.
He said Sialkot-Lahore Motorway project to be built in near future, begins from Saahowala-Sambrial and lead to Lahore along the banks of two local main canals namely Marala-Ravi-Link (MR Link) Canal through Motra-Daska and Bambaanwala-Ravi-Baidian (BRB) Canal Daska.
The official said Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway is being planned to be converted from existing four lanes into a six-lane motorway adding that a good road may be built to connect Okara and Bahawalpur with Karachi-Lahore Motorway as well.
He said under the vision of one nation and harmony along with Sindh and Balochistan provinces, PM Nawaz Sharif announced to launch Green Line Metro Bus service in Karachi, Water Supply Project, Karchi-Lahore Motorway, Metro Bus service in Multan and Gawadar-Kashghar Motorway.
He said Metro Bus between Rawalpindi and Islamabad has been started and people are enjoying its service and saving their precious time and money. A signal-free corridor of Islamabad Highway inaugurated on June 30, 2015 envisages conversion of 24-kilometres expressway from Zero Point to GT Road Rawat, besides addition of lanes to ease traffic congestion, he added.
He said in the first phase, a four-kilometre portion from Zero Point to Faizabad has been completed at a cost of Rs 1.6 billion adding that an overhead bridge has been constructed at Shakarparian Chowk to give signal-free access to travelers.
