November 16, 2008	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 17, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: The National Highway Authority has allocated about 40 per cent of its budget for road projects in Balochistan in order to bring the underdeveloped province on a par with the rest of the country.

An official of the authority said the remaining 60 per cent of the budgeted amount for 2008-09 would be spent on road projects in the other three provinces.

He said that Balochistan had been on the NHA’s priority list for the last several years because it had long been neglected. With its scattered population, road infrastructure is almost non-existence in the province due to the neglect by successive governments.

But now work had been started on a wide network of roads, bridges and access routes in the province, he said.

The biggest project is the 800-kilometre-long Gwadar-Ratodero road which will be completed in 2010. About 40 per cent of the work is complete and the remaining work will be finished in the next two years.

Another important project involves the upgradation of the Karachi-Khuzdar-Quetta Highway which is about 710km long. It will also be completed in 2010.

The Quetta-Qila Saifullah-Zhob highway is another important road with a total length of 350km. The highway will be operational by 2009.

In Sindh, the main construction schemes include the Lyari Expressway in Karachi, the Larkana-Khairpur Road and the 1-kilometre-long bridge on the Indus river.

In Punjab, the main project is the Faisalabad-Multan Motorway.

This is a joint venture of the Asian Development Bank and the government of Pakistan.

About 85 per cent of the funds for the 221-kilomtre-long road will be provided by the ADB and the remaining will come from the government.

Work on the project will start within two months. Another important project is the 36-km Multan-Muzaffargarh Dual Carriageway. Included in the construction schemes is the Muzaffargarh Bypass.

In the NWFP, the Lowari Tunnel is under construction and will be opened for transport in 2009-2010.After the completion of the tunnel, road transport between Chitral and lower areas of the province will be available round the year. The roads leading to and from Chitral remain blocked due to heavy snowfall during the winter season.

Work is also in progress on the 100-km-long Mingora-Kalam Road and the project will be completed next year.

Upgradation work is also going on on the Karakuram Highway. The work on the Peshawar-Torkham road could not be started due to non-availability of required funding.