China’s SPGEC in JV wins contract for section of CPEC’s M-8 motorway

ISLAMABAD:

The National Highway Authority (NHA) has declared a joint venture arrangement between two Pakistani firms and China’s Geological Engineering Complex (SPGEC) as the “most advantageous” bidder for the construction of a section of Ratodero-Gwadar Motorway (M-8) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

SPGEC has offered to construct Package 2B of the 168km Awaran-Nall section of the Hoshab-Awaran-Khuzdar missing link in the M-8 motorway at the lowest cost of Rs9.18 billion, the NHA said in a statement.

As per Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, the NHA has to award the contract to the most advantageous bidder in two weeks.

The section is part of the project to construct a two-lane motorway facility from Hoshab to Khuzdar in Balochistan.

The project road starts from Awaran and terminates at the Basima-Khuzdar Road (N-30) in Nall area near Khuzdar. M-8 will follow the alignment of N-30 after Nall to connect with the Ratodero-Khuzdar section of M-8 at Khuzdar, which is already operational, the NHA said.

N-30 is currently under construction as a Rs400 billion Balochistan Development Package has been announced by the federal government, including CPEC, to connect Gwadar with the eastern parts of the province as well as Iran.

M-8 is an 892km-long east-west motorway connecting Sukkur and Larkana areas of Sindh to Gwadar.