Major Under-construction NHA Road Projects Be Completed Next Year

Some of major under-construction road projects of National Highway Authority (NHA) launched during past four years would be completed next year

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Nov, 2017 ) :Some of major under-construction road projects of National Highway Authority (NHA) launched during past four years would be completed next year.

The projects scheduled to be completed next year include two sections of Pindi Bhattian-Multan Motorway,Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway, Sialkot-Lahore Motorway,Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan section of Western Corridor,two sections of Sukkur-Multan Motorway,a 39 km section of Havelian-Mansehra expressway,an official of National Highway Authority (NHA) told APP on Monday.

The official said that three sections of the M-4 are already operational while its two remaining sections 62 km Gojra-Shorkot section and 64 km Shorkot-Khanewal of will be completed by March and August next year respectively.

With the completion of two remaining sections, the M-4 project will be fully accomplished and become a part of the motorway network of the country. The official said that the completion of Faisalabad-Multan Motorway (M-4) will improve Pakistan's vital north-south road network,promote economic growth, create employment opportunities and ensure regional connectivity.

He said the early development of western corridor was NHA `s top priority and its Hakla - D-I-Khan section (285 km) costing Rs 129 billion will be completed by the end of 2018 thus reducing the distance from Islamabad to Dera Ismail Khan to less than three hours.

He said that the project alignment starts at Hakla, near Tarnol interchange on M-1 and passes through Fateh Jhang,Mianwali, Kundal and ends at Yarak at Indus Highway (N-55). He said that the alignment of motorway passes through developing areas and its construction will generate new employment opportunities.

The 230 km Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway (M-3) would be completed with a cost of Rs149 billion by April next year.The M-3 project has been divided into four parts and being constructed by two contractors through a joint venture of M/s China Railway 20 Group and M/s ZKB.The total cost of the six-lane motorway project is Rs 148.654 billion , he said.

Construction work of the project started in February 2016 and its completion is scheduled in August 2018. He said that another important NHA project - Sialkot-Lahore Motorway would also be completed by August next year.

The project costing Rs 91.4 billion is being executed on Built-Operate and Transfer basis by Frontier Works Organization (FWO). Furthermore,he said work on Thakot-Havelian motorway is in full swing and the 118 kilometre project would be completed in December 2019.However its 39 kilometre Havelian-Mansehra section would be completed in April 2018.

He said that 120-kilometre section of the motorway, part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is expected to be completed in 42 months with a cost of Rs 133.98 billion. He said that 393 km Sukkur-Multan motorway, part of the eastern route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be completed in 2019 at a cost of Rs 294 billion .Two sections of Multan-Sukkur Motorway including Multan-Uch Sharif and Sukkur- Sadiqabad will also be completed by June 2018.

It is worth a mention that Sukkur-Multan motorway starting from Sukkur and terminates at Multan after passing through Pano Akil, Ubauro, Ahmed East, Pirwala, Jalalpur, and 54 bridges would be built on the motorway, including a big one over river Sutlej.