ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan assured Balochistan Governor Jaffar Khan Mandokhail on Wednesday that all issues related to the National Highway Authority (NHA) in the province would be resolved at the earliest.

His assurance came at a meeting between them during which the Balochistan governor took up various issues linked to the NHA in the province.

Mr Khan said that the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of highways in Balochistan remained a top priority for the NHA, and that despite security challenges, the authority continued to remain actively engaged in the province.

Aleem tells Balochistan governor that N-25 will meet global standards

He told the governor that work had been kicked off on the 813-kilometre-long Pakistan Expressway (N-25) — connecting Karachi, Quetta and Chaman — and that it would be completed within two years.

He assured the governor that the N-25 Pakistan Expressway being constructed in Balochistan would meet international standards and that its construction would be ensured in the best possible manner.

During the meeting, the federal minister and the Balochistan governor discussed various issues of mutual interest, as well as the prevailing political situation in the country.

The governor also invited Mr Khan to visit Quetta.

In May last year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while announcing the N-25 project, had recalled that the highway was infamously known as the khooni road (killer highway) in Balochistan due to “accidents that occur every other day there”.

He said he approved the reconstruction of this “killer road” at an estimated cost of around Rs300 billion to 350bn.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2026