Gwadar port would be operational by the end of December 2016 with the completion of 660 kilometer highway in Balochistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by Frontier Works Organisation while Indus highway would be used from DI Khan onward till completion of the route planned under the CPEC. According to Planning Commission officials, the government priority is to operationalize Gwadar port by end 2016 which requires road construction as well as basic facilities in the first phase.
The second phase aims at capacity enhancement of the port as well as the necessary equipment including the latest machinery that would take two to three years. Our priority is to operationalize the much delayed port on as is basis, the officials stated.
The most challenging task is to develop road connectivity inside Balochistan - from Gwadar, Naseerabad, Qilla Saifulah to D I Khan - which would be completed under the CPEC and efforts are under way to ensure necessary facilities such as availability of water and storage facilities at the port over the next six to nine months. The first section of the route is Quetta-Gwadar while second section connects Zhob District in Balochistan with Dera Ismail Khan. The third section would begin in D.I. Khan to Burhan and end at Mianwali, a 240 kilometer long highway which would take time to complete.
The government has approved two projects for construction of Motorway from Hakla (Burhan) on M-1 to D.I .Khan at a cost of Rs 129.781 billion, which is part of western route of CPEC while another project is for land acquisition and utilities at a cost of Rs 13.6 billion.
Sources added that this section will be built as a controlled access facility and include provision of 11 interchanges, 19 flyovers (6 lanes), 15 bridges (4 lane), 74 underpasses, 259 culverts, and 3 major bridges (6 lane), one at River Sawan, one at River Indus and third at River Koram; it will have 100-m wide Right of Way (RoW) to convert the proposed four lane facility to 6 lanes in future.
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