ISLAMABAD: The National Highway Authority (NHA) will soon start construction work on the Awaran-Nal section of the Ratodero-Gwadar Motorway (M- 8) and the Zhob-Qilla Saifullah section of the National Highway 50 (N-50).
The projects are of utmost importance given the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, said Shahid Ihsan Ullah, Member (West Zone), NHA, during a live session, according to a Gwadar Pro’s report.
Shahid said that NHA has paid mobilization advance to contractors of all three packages of the 168-kilometre Awaran-Nal section of M- 8.
They have started a land survey and will soon launch construction activities, he added.
Awaran-Nal is the last missing link in the M-8 Motorway, which links the Peshawar-Karachi Motorway with Gwadar near Sukkur in Sindh province.
Work on the 146- kilometer Hoshab-Awaran section of the M-8 is already underway. The rest of the key artery is functional.
In addition, NHA has awarded contracts for three sections of the N- 50 Highway between Zhob and Qilla Saifullah, and will soon mobilize contractors for physical works, Shahid said.
Construction work is already underway on two packages of the N-50 between Qilla Saifullah and Kuchlak, a town near Quetta.
“We are striving to open certain patches of the road for traffic in November as per instructions of Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar,” Shahid said.
N-50, when linked with the Hakla-D.I. Khan Motorway (M- 14), will provide another route to connect Peshawar and Islamabad with Gwadar, popularly known as the Western Route.
The NHA member said that work was underway on the Quetta-Khuzdar section of the Karachi-Quetta-Chaman Highway (N-25). PC-1s for the Karachi- Khuzdar and the Quetta-Chaman sections have also been approved and the projects will be executed after the availability of funds, he said.
N-25 connects Karachi with Afghanistan via the Chaman border. It also intersects the M-8 Motorway at Khuzdar, thus linking Gwadar with Afghanistan as well. –INP
