Construction of Hakla-Pindi Gheb section approved by NHA
Construction of Hakla-Pindi Gheb section, a vital part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) western route is approved by National Highway Authority (NHA) in a meeting of the NHA Executive Board headed by the authority’s Chairman at Islamabad.
The project will cost around Rs 22 billion and will be completed in two years. It is 63 kilometres long and part of Hakla-D.I.Khan Motorway. Hakla-D I Khan Motorway (CPEC) is 285 kilometres long and is divided into five packages with estimated cost of Rs 145.5 billion including Rs 20 billion for land acquisition and shifting of utilities.
The project was divided into five smaller sections so that work could be completed according to the given time frame, official added.
Hakla-Pindi Gheb section is one of the five packages of the western route under the CPEC.
Construction work on other three sections has already been started while approval to the remaining section .i.e. package-III (Rehmani Khel – Mainwali-60 km) will be granted in upcoming Board meeting.
Work on the package-IV (Tarap-Pindi Gheb), package-III (Mainwali-Tarap) and package-I (Yarik (DIK)-Rehmani Khel) has been awarded to contractors and machinery has been mobilized on sites. The construction work has already been started on the three packages simultaneously and would be completed in two years after the starting date.
Package-I (Yarik – Rehmani Khel-55 km) has been awarded to m/s NLC at bid amount of Rs 13.257 billion, package-III (Mianwali – Tarap-60 km) to m/s FWO at bid amount of Rs 20.629 billion and package-IV (Tarap – Pindi Gheb-50 km) to m/s Limak-ZKB JV at Rs 21.386 billion.
Package-II (Rehmani Khel – Mainwali-60 km) involves a bridge on river Indus for which Riverine survey is completed and data has been sent to the Irrigation Research Institute Lahore for model study on priority.
The project is being financed by the Government of Pakistan and PC-I was approved by ECNEC. The government earmarked Rs 30 billion under the Public Sector Development Program for 2015-16 against the three packages, work on which already has been started while Rs 22 billion has been earmarked in the PSDP 2016-17 for Hakla-D.I.Khan.
The Hakla-D.I.Khan Motorway (CPEC) project envisages construction of 285km 4-lane Expressway from Hakla on M-1 to DI Khan near Yarik on N-55 as part of western route of the CPEC. The proposed Motorway will be built as a controlled access facility and includes provision of 11 interchanges, 19 flyovers, 15 bridges,74 underpasses, 259 culverts, and three major bridges; one at River Sawan, second at River Indus and third at River Koram. The proposed Motorway will have 100m wide right of way (ROW) to convert the proposed four lane facility to six lanes in future.
Chairman NHA Shahid Ashraf Tarar chaired the Board meeting where approval of construction of 5 new bridges at a cost of Rs 729 million at different locations along Gilgit-Skardu strategic road was also granted.
Chairman NHA in a statement stated that the Authority was committed to fully implement government’s vision to establish an efficient and reliable road network across the country. He said the organization had managed to save over Rs 300 billion to national exchequer in various mega projects through introduction of greater transparency and efficiency in the procurement process.
