Karachi- Hyderabad Superhighway (M-9): President to lay foundation on March 6

President Asif Ali Zardari would perform the groundbreaking of Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway (M-9) on March 6, 2013. Parliamentary Secretary for Communication, Chaudhry Saeed Iqbal Wednesday said this while replying to supplementary questions during question hour in the National Assembly.
He said the contract was awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for construction of M-9. He said the NHA had awarded around 28 maintenance contracts under annual maintenance plan 2012-13 to improve the dilapidated road and keep M-9 in good condition. The parliamentary secretary said earlier the contract was awarded to a Malaysian company on Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis; however, the company failed to reach the financial close.
He said the NHA did not carryout rehabilitation or periodic maintenance since fiscal year 2009 due to planned conversion of M-9 to Motorway. Answering another question, he said apart from Faisalabad-Khanewal-Multan (M-4) only Motorway (M-8) is presently under construction in six packages. He said the details of the projects are Gwadar-Dasht (54 kms, progress 60 percent), Dash-Turbat (63 kms, 64 percent), Trubat-Hosbab (76 kms, 60 percent), Khori-Wangu Hills (50 kms 65 percent), Wangu Hills (43 kms, 80 percent) and Wangu Hills - Quba Saeed Khan (56 kms, 80 percent).
He said all the above packages got delayed because of various reasons including: (i) persistent adverse law & order situation including attacks on camps and killing of workers compelling the contractors to suspend work (ii) major increase in scope of work based on lessons learnt after cyclones/flash floods of 2005, 2007 & 2010 and (iii) inadequate provision of PSDP funds. He said a separate PC-1 of Rs 1 billion (approx) is in process for provision of foolproof security coverage to these projects through creation of a dedicated wing of FC.