Three motorway projects completed under CPEC to open for general public by the end of August

ISLAMABAD – A total of three motorway projects, being executed as part of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), are almost ready for their opening but the National Highway Authority has yet to decide about their final dates of inauguration.

These projects include 392km long Multan-Sukhar Motorway (M-5), 54km long package-I and 14km long package 2-D of Hakla-D.I Khan Motorway and a 40km long section of Thakot-Havelian expressway.

These CPEC projects in addition to several others were started by the previous government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz out of which the aforementioned projects are almost ready and now the NHA will take the final decision about their opening.

However, sources informed that the NHA management is uncertain about the level of inauguration ceremonies for these important projects.

When contacted, Member Engineering Coordination Arbab Ali Dakan confirmed that these projects will be ready in the month of August and it can be opened for general public.

The projects include 392km long Multan-Sukhar Motorway, 68km long Hakla-DI Khan Motorway and 40km long section of Thakot-Havelian expressway

The Multan-Sukhar Motorway (M-5) is a part of the country’s Peshawar-Karachi Motorway and its total cost is around Rs.294 billion, which was provided by the China EXIM Bank under the CPEC. The said project is ready and now NHA is doing codal formalities to take over the project from the contractor.

The construction of Hakla-D.I Khan Motorway project is part of the western alignment of CPEC and this four-lane 285-kilometre north-south motorway starts from the Hakla on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway, near Fateh Jang interchange and ends at Yarik near Dera Ismail Khan.

The said project was divided among five packages and work was awarded to different contractors to meet the deadlines. However, the concerned project director Noor Mustafa has informed that a 54km long package-I and 14km long package 2-D of this project are ready for opening.

The package-I is between Yarak and Rahmani Khel and it is constructed by the National Logistics Cell (NLC) while the package 2-D is between Rehmani Khel to Kot Belian.

On the other side, the Thakot-Havelian is an early harvest project of CPEC and it is divided into two portions Havelian-Mansehra and Mansehra-Thakot, which are supposed to be completed in March 2020. However, according to project director Zafer Yaqoob, a 40-kilometre long portion between Havelian and Mansehra is almost ready.

He, however, informed that there are some technical issues which are being discussed with the highups and after due deliberations, the management would decide whether to open the completed section or not.