Hakla-D I Khan Motorway inaugurated: PM links ‘inclusive’ uplift to national progress

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday inaugurated 293-kilometre long Hakla-D I Khan Motorway, which is an important part of the Western route of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The Hakla-D I Khan Motorway has 11 interchanges, 36 bridges, 33 flyovers and 119 underpasses. It will help in transforming D I Khan as one of the main business hubs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, linking South Punjab and Balochistan. It will also enable supply of agricultural produce to different parts of the country.

Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said previously the development of the country was confined only to GT Road, Lahore and onward to Karachi, which was also called the Eastern route of CPEC.

“But a country achieves progress if there is uniform development across its length and breadth. It is made possible due to long-term planning, like China, which has planned 30 years ahead,” he added.

The prime minister said the future planning would envisage a roadmap towards progress, embracing all parts of the country.

If few areas were developed the people living there would become rich, leaving behind other population of the backward areas in poverty. It was the biggest problem of the developing world, he added.

The prime minister recollected that during 60s, Pakistan had long-term planning as the country’s biggest projects were conceived during that period.

The prime minister said that during the last 25 years, he had been consistently maintaining that corruption had been the biggest issue of Pakistan.

He said in the past, roads were constructed at heavy cost as the money was going into someone’s pockets. “The roads were constructed for making money,” he said and wondered, “How come that the roads constructed during 2013 had cost more then the ones being completed now at the lowest cost.”

The prime minister said the construction cost of the roads in the past was double. “About 1,000 billion rupees had gone to the pockets of the corrupt, and it happened with a poor nation,” he regretted.

The ceremony was attended by federal ministers, including Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, and NHA officials.

Commending efforts of the minister for communication, the prime minister said his ministry had been among the top three performing ones.

He said the revenues of National Highway Authority (NHA) had been doubled after steps taken against corruption, including E-tendering, besides recovery of NHA’s encroached land worth Rs 5 billion.

He stressed that development should be ‘always inclusive’ without focusing on a particular segment of the society.

The planning should be made in a way that no area or people were left behind, he said, adding Madina had been the most successful model of the world as living standards of its people were improved.

The prime minister further said the people in far-flung areas were deprived of health facilities and stressed upon provision of education and justice to them.

He said the people in backward areas like Mianwali would have the best treatment facilities due to the health cards scheme. Each family would get free of charge treatment up to Rs 1 million and such initiative would also enable the private sector to establish a health network in those areas, he added.

The prime minister said the Hakla-D I Khan Motorway would connect those areas which were less developed. The lack of facilities forced the inhabitants of D I Khan and Mianwali to move to the developed cities which also resulted in the brain drain and flight of talent, he added.

He expressed the confidence that the motorway would go a long way in raising the standards of living in those areas, besides reducing the travel time from seven to three hours from Islamabad to D I Khan.

Such prospects would also augur well for the bright future of Pakistan, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Communications and Postal Services Murad Saeed said work on Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway had been completed with the deployment of NHA personnel.

He said the NHA’s total revenues were increased by Rs102 billion, showing growth of 125 percent in the last three years.

He said an amount of Rs 5 billion was recovered by retrieving the encroached land.

Providing further details, Murad said the NHA had completed work on about 2032 kilometres of roads and planned construction of further 7889 km roads.

He said his ministry had achieved the five year’s targets within the span of three years.

The construction cost of dual lanes per km now stood around Rs 111 million against Rs118 per km during the previous government whereas four-lane cost per km was now Rs 170 million as compared to Rs 370 million during the last regime.

All that was achieved despite a surge in global inflation and the cost of materials, he added.

The minister said e-procurement was launched for transparency and also completed GIS field survey of all roads.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, unlike the previous regimes, had completed work on road projects at half cost and also started work on additional roads network, he added.

The minister said a true leadership always thought of the country and its people ahead of everything.