Engineering Post Report
Work on six new motorways and highways with total length of about 6135 kilometers is expected to commence during this year simultaneously or one after the other.
The new projects including the western route of great game changer China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be completed within a period of three years thus ushering in an era of prosperity and development for the people of the most under-developed areas of the country ensuring inclusive economic growth through increased connectivity .
According to the information available from official sources, option of undertaking these projects on Public Private Partnership mode is also being explored for enhancing the scope of CPEC.
These motorways and highways may include Ratodero-Shikarpur Road, Sialkot-Kharian motorway , 80 kms long Swat-Fatehpur, Swat- Dir Motorway, construction of 163 kilometers long Chitral- Shandur Highway connecting Chitral with Gilgit-Baltistan, 82 kms long Chitral-Garam Chashma Road , all will be launched in the coming months and completed in next two to three years.
Eleven new projects recently announced at the appropriate level include the Western Route of the CPEC, ground breaking of five more projects will also be performed during this year.
In Balochistan province, Zhob-Kuchlak Road is in the final stage of its completion as more than 70 per cent of construction work has already been completed.
The 110 kilometers long Khuzdar- Basima Road is also nearing completion .
To ensure smooth and efficient movement of goods and passengers in utmost safety, the National Highway Authority (NHA) is executing Khunjrab to Gwadar connectivity under the CPEC umbrella.
According to NHA sources, 118 kilometers long Havelian-Thakot motorway and Multan-Sukkur Motorway have since been completed and operational.
285kms long Hakla (Islamabad)-Yarik (Dera Ismail Khan) highway is under construction , while 235 kms long Yarik-Zhob, 331 kms long Zhob-Quetta and 400 kms long Hoshab-Awaran highways are also in various stages of approval and subsequently construction work will be undertaken in the right earnest.
