ISLAMABAD, July 14: Pakistan will soon be embarking on an ambitious plan to expand its strategic road and rail networks to ease travel and facilitate trade with the Central Asian republics, China and other regional countries.

Among the eight agreements inked during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s recent visit to China, one is for an $18 billion project to build a road and rail track, including a string of tunnels in the mountainous track passing over a height of 4,693 metres to be used as part of the Pakistan-China ‘economic corridor’.

The corridor, planned to boost trade between the two countries, will use the existing 1,300km Karakoram Highway (KKH), including a new section currently being realigned due to construction of the Diamer Bhasha Dam, and a 700km extension further south up to the Gwadar Port, for fast transportation of goods.

The KKH that is currently undergoing an expansion is being made into an all-weather modern highway with ability to handle trucks with 40-foot containers and on completion will cut down the journey from over 30 hours to 20 from Khunjerab to Islamabad.

Work on the expansion of the KKH, that was scheduled to complete in 2013, was delayed due to a landslide at Attabad and submerging of the road.

The prime minister was informed that work on the Attabad lake would be

completed by 2016 while the rehabilitation of the KKH would be completed a year before that.

Prime Minister Sharif called for early completion of the repair and rehabilitation work so that trade between Pakistan and China could flourish.

He also urged a Chinese company’s head to accomplish the rehabilitation work on Attabad lake and adjoining areas. The interest of the Chinese government in the project is quite obvious as it provides a shorter access to the Arabian Sea, the sea route through which almost 20 per cent of world’s oil supply passes.

The link will also give China the shortest route for its exports to the Gulf, Africa and Europe, prompting Premier Li Keqaing to say that China had strategic interest in this corridor. The KKH currently links Kashgar in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region with Abbottabad.

Under the ambitious plans, Pakistan and China will be studying addition of a railway track along the KKH. With the addition of a rail link, the goods that now take over a month through the sea route will take only 10 days to reach their destination, between the two countries.

Both the countries also plan to upgrade their cargo handling ability on their borders, which is confined to 100,000 tons owing to poor road linkage.

China has started a study to find a suitable location for a railway station in Kashgar.

Yuan Jianmin, Director of the Xinjiang Logistic Association, was quoted in a news report as saying that “a railway link between China and Pakistan railway would transform Kashgar and allow it to truly become an economic hub”.

As part of the plan to enhance communication linkages, the Strategic Communication Organisation (SCO) of Pakistan and Huawei company inked a document during the prime minister’s visit for laying optic fibre between Pakistan and China. It includes an over 800km optical fibre cable from the Chinese border to Rawalpindi along the Karakoram Highway.

It will connect Pakistan and the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) cable in China, enabling both the countries to have alternative routes for their international telecom traffic. At present, Pakistan is connected to the world through undersea cables, including the SEA-ME-WE 3&4, IMEWE and TWA-1.

Pakistan and China also agreed to work on construction of a motorway between Lahore and Karachi.

Prime Minister Sharif called for completion of the motorway within two and a half years, following the completion of the feasibility study in three months. He said his government would not compromise on quality of the work.

He expressed hope the project would benefit the people of all the provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. “It is a historic day. Once this project completes, the travel time will reduce remarkably and it will ultimately promote business activities in the region.”

Currently Lahore is linked through the M-3 Motorway with Faisalabad, while work on M-4 Faisalabad-Multan section is under way. The previous cabinet early this year approved the award of contract to the Frontier Works Organisation for the construction of the 136-km M-9 Motorway to link Karachi with Hyderabad. However, work on the remaining sections south of Multan is yet to begin.

Prime Minister Sharif said the government was committed to providing comfortable and affordable transport facilities to its citizens within the minimum possible time.

During his stay in China, he also travelled from Beijing to Shanghai aboard a high speed train and expressed desire for a similar project in Pakistan.

The chief engineer said the project cost about $20 million per kilometre, however, it could be decreased by using the latest technology.

The prime minister invited the CSCEC Chairman Yi Jun to Pakistan in August to discuss various development projects, including the construction of highways and the bullet train.—APP