Shoaib Ansari 
Govt approves four major road projects
The government’s Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved major road projects in the provinces of Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The four road projects would cost around Rs290 billion.
The projects include: 306km Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway, 47.55km Khyber Pass Economic Corridor, 146km Hoshab-Awaran-Khuzdar Section of M-8 project, land acquisition for Swat Motorway Phase-II.
Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez, who presided over the Ecnec meeting, gave an approval for the construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur section of the Motorway on the build-operate-transfer basis. The motorway will be high-speed toll road facility transportation and begin from Hyderabad (End of Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway M-9) and terminate at Naro Canal (start of Sukkur-Multan Motorway M-5).
The project is the only missing link between Karachi to Islamabad motorway and the completion will see a high quality road between the two cities. The project was earlier shelved by the PMLN government but has been taken up again by the current PTI government.
The motorway will pass through the cities of Jamshoro, Tando Adam, Hala, Shahdadpur, Nawabshah, Moro, Dadu, Naushahro Feroze, Mehrabpur, Rasool-pur, Larkana, Khairpur and Sukkur.
The project will be transferred back to the National Highway Authority after 25 years and will be completed in 33 months.
In addition, the Ecnec also approved the construction of the 47.55km long Khyber Pass Economic Corridor. The project has been divided into two components including the Peshawar-Torkham Motorway and link road connecting motorway to Badabher (N-55) intersecting N-5 between Chamkani and Jhagra (55km) in length.
The project will ensure a 47.55-kilometre-long, four-lane wide, dual carriageway high-speed access motorway from Peshawar to Torkham.
In addition, in the Balochistan province, the Hoshab, Awaran and Khuzdar section of the M8 project spans for 146km. Currently, the existing paved road is motorable and is under the control of the Communication and Works Department of the Balochistan government.
The road will pass through Hoshab, Qila Darwesh, Ashal, Sahar Kalat, Dandar, Gorari, Laljan, Razai, Duddar, Nurdin, Madak, Malar, Labach Dargo and ends in Awaran. The project will relocate utilities and purchase 29,200 kanals of land for the road project.
