ISLAMABAD: Two firms have submitted “unsolicited” conceptual plans to the National Highway Authority (NHA) for the construction of the long-awaited 306km-long Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway (M6).

Even if the government immediately approves either plan, the project that has already been delayed by six years — despite being an integral part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — may take three more years to complete.

Separately, a source in the government told Dawn that the planning division was considering splitting the Rs470 billion project into three portions.

The two conceptual plans were moved by Zahir Khan and Brothers (ZKB) and Techno Engineering Services (TES), through the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB), respectively.

When contacted, a spokesperson for the NHA said, “The unsolicited concept proposal by ZKB has been submitted to SIFC with a request to forward the same to Public Private Partnership Authority (P3A). Copy of the same has also been submitted to NHA.

“No proposal has been received from Techno Engineering Services,” the spokesperson said.

The plan submitted by ZKB said the firm would complete the project at the cost of Rs470bn, for which it would not seek any bank loan, but rather, would make revenue-sharing agreements with the NHA and equity partners like Development Finance Institutions (DFIs): IFC, ADB, AIIB, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs), corporations and suppliers. The firm will also share 10 per cent revenue with NHA from M6 from its tenth operational year.

According to ZKB, work on the project can be started in July 2025 to make the motorway operational by January 2028. It said total investment on the project would be Rs472bn. The ZKB would get Rs120bn from the NHA to start the project and Rs24bn during construction through toll collection from M3, M5, and sectional M6.

The ZKB’s plan suggested that the government, under the present value would get Rs196bn through toll tax and Rs1.1 trillion over 28 years. The motorway, it said, would be transferred to NHA with fresh overlays at the end of the concession period.

However, TES, which had won the construction contract over two years ago with a bid of Rs307.71bn, claimed it was ready to execute the project with the same bid, with a difference of interest rate and Kibor.

The firm submitted its plan to senior NHA officials in a meeting presided over by NAB chairman, sources said, explaining that NAB had been tasked by the Sindh High Court to investigate allegations of irregularities, corruption and delay in the project’s execution.

NAB Sukkur held a meeting with TES to discuss and investigate reasons of delay and other allegations that led to cancellation of the contract in 2024. Later, NAB held another meeting with TES, presided over by NAB chairman, during which the firm presented its plan to the senior officials of the NHA.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025