ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform ground-breaking ceremony of Sialkot-Kharian Motorway, on Thursday (today), which would be completed at a cost of around Rs27.8 billion.

This project will be completed on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis after successful completion of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway on PPP basis.

The Board of Directors’ meeting of the Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) on August 27, 2021 approved signing of Rs27.8 billion Sialkot-Kharian Motorway project.

The starting point of motorway is Sambrial City (end point of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway) and it will terminate near Jund Shareef, while crossing Gujarat, Jalal Pur Jattan, Lala Musa, and Dolat Nagar.

The total length of project is 69km including the link highway.

Construction of five interchanges, one service area and two toll Plazas are also part of the project.

This four-lane motorway will be completed in two years’ time.

The construction of Sialkot (Sambrial)-Kharian Motorway will help speedy movement of people and create job opportunities as well.

Sialkot is famous for manufacturing sports goods all over the world.

The proposed motorway will ease transportation of sports goods in Pakistan.

The motorway will improve socio-economic condition in Sialkot, Kharian, and the adjoining areas.

The approval under first of its kind innovative transaction structure is a major breakthrough in development financing, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said, while chairing the meeting.

In a tweet, the minister said, “It is first project using innovative financial structure using Viability Gap Fund (VGF). This will open a major new development financing instrument”.

He said the worth of the development projects in pipeline had now crossed the Rs1 trillion mark.

The Board of P3A considered approval of the PPP agreement for the construction of Sialkot-Kharian Motorway on a PPP basis.

Earlier, the Board had approved transaction structure and bidding documentation package of the project and successful bidder’s proposal in its meetings held in March 2021 and June 2021, respectively.

The government of Pakistan is supporting the financial viability and bankability of the project through the provision of capital and operational Viability Gap Funding (VGF) totaling Rs10.94 billion.

The project is expected to supplement the existing Lahore-Sialkot and future Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway to take the motorway network up to the city of Rawalpindi.

The board approved the PPP agreement of the project for its execution between the National Highways Authority and the consortium of Frontier Works Organisation and Sultan Mehmood & Co.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021