Ten mega infrastructure development projects costing roughly Rs60 billion, including the Karachi Northern Bypass Project and the Karachi Layri Expressway are receiving “uninterrupted funds” from the federal government with a view to complete them on time.
President General Pervez Musharraf is said to have asked the ministers for finance and the communications to make sure that there was no delay in releasing funds to all these ten projects. He said that he would personally make sure that the future elected government remain committed in the same as the fpresent one because these were “his prestigious mega projects” which were to be completed on priority basis.
The Makran Coastal Road Project is a 653 km long highway which will provide an all-weather, two-lane carriage-way to serve the population in the entire coastal belt and facilitate communication and trade by linking Karachi with ports at Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwani. It will also cater for the expected international traffic from Iran, the Gulf and the Central Asian States and facilitate trade between Pakistan and these states.
The project commenced on July Ist, 2002 and will be completed by December 2005. Total cost of the project is Rs15 billion and Rs2.2 billion has been spent so far completing 16 per cent of the project. (Lyari-Ormara 47 per cent, Pasni-Gwadar 2 per cent).
According to the details, Rs500 million have been spent so far on Karachi Northern Bypass Project which will cost Rs2.7 billion. The project will cater for up-country commercial traffic from the Karachi Port and meet the continuous demand of the civic agencies. Other objectives will be to provide safe and efficient route for heavy traffic, reduce congestion, travel time and vehicle operating costs, reduce high rate of accidents, provide an efficient link for Balochistan and anticipated coastal highway traffic and reduce environmental pollution. The project was started in April 2002 and completion date is October 2004.
With the increase in population and traffic in Karachi city, the existing roads are inadequate in capacity and design to accommodate such heavy traffic. Due to this reason, construction of Lyari Expressway has been initiated to enhance and regulate city traffic system, provide obstacle free route to port bound heavy traffic, protect river bed/banks against land grabbers and improve city aesthetics in general and river corridor in particular. The project commenced in April 2002 and will be completed by October 2004. The total cost of the project is Rs 5 billion and Rs500 million have been spent indicating a progress of 10 per cent.
The federalisation of Islamabad - Muzaffarabad Highway project will cost Rs 4 billion and so far Rs900 million have been spent, recording a progress of 22.5 per cent. The road is the primary route of communication connecting the federal capital with the capital of AJ&K besides passing through Punjab and NWFP. According to a senior official of the ministry of communication the project has the strategic importance as well as in terms of defence. The already existing roads between Islamabad and Murree has frequent sharp gradients and landslide problems. This project was started in September 1999 and its completion date is 31st July 2003.
Re-activation of Pindi Bhattian - Faisalabad Motorway was undertaken in February 2002 and will be completed in February 2004 at a cost of Rs 5 billion. So far Rs 1.7 billion has been spent, showing a project progress of 35 per cent.
Kohat Tunnel Project is an integral component of the Indus Highway Project and upon completion will provide a shortest and easiest access to the commuters, who are presently utilising the Kohat Pass, which has numerous hairpin bends on steep gradient over the length of more than 8 km. It will also reduce travel distance thus resulting in substantial reduction in vehicle operating costs and saving of time. The construction of this 1.9 km long road tunnel with 30 km long access roads, was started in August, 1999 and will be completed on 31st July 2003. The total cost of the project is Rs6.6 billion and Rs4.2 billion have so far been spent on it. Progress on the project is 68 per cent.
Widening and strengthening of the National Highway N-70 is another project. The N-70 Qila Saifullah - D.G.Khan - Multan(447 km), is the main route, which links Punjab with Balochistan. About 257 km length of this route falls in Balochistan. Detailed design of N-70 has been completed and four contract packages have been prepared. Widening and improvement of N-70 will assist in providing a high speed and safe communications facility between the Punjab and Balochistan. The overall cost of the project is Rs 2.8 billion and Rs 200 million have so far been spent, indicating a progress of 0.7 per cent and its completion date is June 2004.
The Bund Road Project, Lahore was under extreme heavy traffic moving towards south of the country after loading and unloading within the city of Lahore. The existing road was in highly deteriorated condition. To ease the traffic problem, Bund road Lahore has been upgraded to a dual carriage-way with the provision of service road on either side. The new road has also the facility of storm water drain. The cost of the project is Rs 727 million. It was started in March 2000 and was completed in July, 2002. The project stands completed.
The Islamabad Peshawar Motorway (M-1) Project will now cost Rs 12.5 billion as the government has terminated contract with the Turkish firm - M/s Bayindir in April 2001. According to the officials of the ministry of communications, had the contact with Turkish firm not been cancelled, the project would have costed Rs 27 billion. Now there was a saving of Rs 14.8 billion. “We are now planning to file a case against M/S Bayindir in Turkey for damages”, an official said adding that the issue has already been taken up with the Turkish government which did not have any objection to sue the company on account of charging huge money for the project. About 37 per cent of work has been completed and now contractors are being prequalified after which work will be tendered and awarded within 8-10 weeks.
The Pindi Bhattian - Faisalabad Motorway (M-3) Project has been re-negotiated. All concessions accorded to PAMIC have been withdrawn and 100 per cent toll receipts and other revenues shall be credited to the National Highway Authority (NHA). Work on the project commenced in February, 2002 and will be completed in two years. Original cost of the project was Rs 7.3 billion which has been brought done to Rs 5 billion with no foreign exchange component.