ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate on Wednesday the Sorab-Hoshab highway — an important link on the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The ceremony is scheduled to take place in the Hoshab area of Balochistan. The road built at an estimated cost of Rs22 billion is 449 kilometres long and links the Gwadar port to the north. There are 16 major and 105 minor bridges constructed on the route.

National Highway Authority spokesman Kashif Zaman said Balochistan would benefit ‘enormously’ from the highway as it passed through least developed parts of the province and would bring economic stability to the region.

Of the 13 motorways planned under the CPEC project, four motorways — including Peshawar-Islamabad, Islamabad-Lahore, Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad, and Faisalabad-Gojra — are already operational.

The overall length of the motorway network stretches to about 2000km, said Mr Zaman, adding that the remaining projects would be completed in the next three years.

Published in Dawn December 14th, 2016