Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi chaired a high level meeting wherein he was briefed about various road connectivity projects undertaken by the National Highways Authority (NHA). Chairman NHA Shahid Ashraf Tarar briefed the Prime Minister. The meeting was also attended by the Federal Minister Hafiz Abdul Karim, Minister of State Muhammad Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry and other senior officials.
Chairman NHA briefed the meeting that at present, 39 highways, motorways, expressways and strategic roads with a total length of 12,131 km are being operated and maintained by NHA which makes for 4.6 percent of total national road network but it carries 80 percent of the passenger and 65 percent of freight traffic in the country, says a press release issued here on Friday.
Prime Minister was briefed on important projects including China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Peshawar-Karachi Motorway that are strategically important in building the 21st century infrastructure for Pakistan with the ultimate objective to stimulate economic growth through accelerated regional trade activity.
It was briefed that one of the most significant aspect of the CPEC project is construction of a modern infrastructure that will allow the link between Khunjerab Pass and Gwadar. This entails high strategic value, linking Khunjerab to Burhan with a 784 km of Karakoram Highway (KKH), out of which 335 km from Khunjerab to Raikot has already been constructed in a short span of time. Remaining from Raikot to Islamabad is divided into three sub sections ie Raikot-Thakot, Thakot-Havelian and Havelian-Burhan (Hazara Motorway). Hazara motorway (59 km) is expected to complete by the end of 2017 with a cost of Rs 34 billion whereas work on Havelian-Thakot (120 km) and Sukkur-Multan Motorway (393 km) has also commenced and hopefully completed by 2019.
Construction of the Western Route of CPEC is among the top priorities of the govt due to enormous economic benefits it entails. This route is divided in sections including Hakla-D.I.Khan (285 km), D.I.Khan-Mughal Kot (124 Km), Mughal Kot-Zhob (81 Km), Zhob-Quetta (331 Km), Quetta-Sorab (221 Km), Sorab-Hoshab (449 km) and Hoshab-Turbat-Gwadar (193 Km). Up gradation of Zhob-Quetta (331 km), Quetta-Sorab (221 km), Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab (193 km) and Hoshab-Sorab (449 km) is duly completed, work on Zhob-Mughalkot and Hakla-D.I.Khan Expressway (285 km) is in full swing and will be completed by 2018 with a cost of around Rs 122 billion.
The meeting was informed that timely construction of Peshawar-Karachi Motorway (1158 km) is another priority project. Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (136 km) is being built on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis and will be completed this year whereas Multan-Lahore Motorway (230 km) will be completed with a cost of Rs 149 billion.
The Prime Minister was briefed that in order to reduce financial burden on national exchequer, NHA is endeavoring to attract the private sector in its construction schemes and three major projects worth Rs 144 billion were awarded on BOT (Built-Operate-Maintenance) basis during the last two years. This included modernization of Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) and Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9). Earnings of NHA from these projects are expected to pass well over Rs 350 billion. Efforts have also been made to enhance revenue by incorporating new technology and ensuring greater transparency. This has resulted into a steady increase in the annual revenue to the tone of Rs 23 billion. Greater transparency has resulted into colossal savings to the national exchequer.
It was highlighted that in just two years, over 58 billion rupees were saved in 64 different projects. This was apart from over 180 billion rupees that were saved through technical clarification meetings with the contractors on Sukkur-Multan, Thakot- Havelian and Lahore-Multan Motorway. Similar savings have resulted in maintenance related projects as well. The Prime Minister directed that timeliness for completion of the projects be adhered to without compromising on the quality of civil works while maintaining utmost transparency.-PR
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