National Highway Authority To Complete Many Mega Projects This Year; Official

The National Highway Authority (NHA), striving to expand and improve road network stretching right from Khunjrab border and up to the Gwadar Port, is all set to execute several highway and motorway projects during 2018.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Aug, 2018 ) :The National Highway Authority (NHA), striving to expand and improve road network stretching right from Khunjrab border and up to the Gwadar Port, is all set to execute several highway and motorway projects during 2018.

These projects will change the entire national landscape to the advantage of country's 200 million inhabitants in the shape of unprecedented growth in economic and trade activities through improved connectivity, an official of NHA told APP on Thursday.

He said that 230 km Lahore-Abdul Hakim Motorway is near to completion and can become operational within one month time if required funds are released urgently. Built at a cost of Rs 148 billion, the six-lane motorway will provide a swift and easy route between Lahore and Multan, he added. The project is funded by the government through Public Sector Development Programme, he said.

The NHA official said the 285km Hakla-DI Khan section will be completed with a cost of Rs122 billion next year. The completion the project will complete the missing part of Western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). With the completion of Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan motorway, the travel time between Islamabad and D I Khan will get reduced from five hours to just two-and-a-half hours besides facilitating movement to the country's southern cities such as Quetta and Gwadar.

Gojra-Shorkot (62km) and Shorkot-Khanewal (65km) sections of M-4 are scheduled to complete by October and December with a cost of Rs17 billion and Rs 22 billion, respectively.

Financed jointly by the Asian Development Bank and Government of Pakistan, their completion will reduce travel time from the Federal capital to Multan to just 5 hours.

One of the important links of CPEC and the country's longest planned motorway, Multan-Sukkur (M-5) is scheduled to complete in 2019. The 392km-long motorway is being financed by China at a cost of Rs294 billion.

He said that 89 km Lahore-Sialkot Motorway will be completed on the BOT mode in coming few months at a cost of Rs44 billion. It will link the industrial city of Sialkot with the rest of the country, leading to swift movement of industrial products.

The NHA official said that the remaining 12 km under-construction section of Hazara Motorway is nearing completion and it will likely be opened for traffic by October this year. He said after completion of this portion, the Hazara Motorway would become fully operational and provide a modern six-lane road facility to the people of Havelian, Abbottabad, Mansehra and adjoining areas. It is worth mentioning that 47km section of the Hassanabdal-Havelian Motorway, commonly known as the Hazara Motorway, was opened for traffic from Burhan to Shah Maqsood interchange in December last year. The NHA official said that work on Thakot-Havelian motorway is going on smoothly and it is expected that the six-lane 39-km Havlian-Mansehra section would be completed by February next year .