Road projects worth Rs300bn to be completed under public-private partnership.

Byline: Khaleeq Kiani

ISLAMABAD -- The government on Monday selected two road projects worth Rs300 billion for development through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

The expected completion date for the design and feasibility studies of both projects by March 31, 2021.

The decision was taken at a meeting on road infrastructure projects under the PPP mode presided over by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar. The meeting was attended by National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Sikkandar Qayyum, PPP-Authority (PPPA) Chief Executive Officer Malik Ahmed Khan and other senior officials.

The meeting was briefed on various projects currently under consideration for implementation under the PPP mode. The meeting was informed that apart from Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway, which had been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), two more road projects: N-25 Karachi-Quetta road worth approximately Rs200bn and Mianwali-Muzafargarh road worth approximately Rs100bn were also being processed for implementation under the PPP mode.

The 790-km N-25 connects Karachi Port with Quetta and provides access to Afghanistan through Chaman. The project includes construction of additional carriageway and rehabilitation of existing road where required to make it a four-lane divided carriageway.

The meeting was told that detailed design for Khuzdar-Chaman section was in progress and paperwork to hire consultants for design of Karachi-Khuzdar section and commercial feasibility of the whole Karachi-Chaman road will also be taken up in the upcoming departmental working party meeting on July 10. This would be followed by initiation of the procurement process.

Authorities expected that few sections of N-25 would be commercially feasible while the remaining sections would require substantial government funding due to 'huge investment requirement, moderate traffic demand, lack of toll culture and security concerns in Balochistan'.

Minister said these projects would help provide good road infrastructure facilities in collaboration with the private sector. The minister further direActed to complete the design and feasibility studies on both projects by Mar 31, 2021.

National Highway N-25 connects Karachi with Quetta, the capital of Balochistan and provides access to...