CPEC western route: NHA approves award of work for Hakla-D I Khan motorway

13.4km long, four-lane section is located between Rehmani Khel and Kot Belian in Mianwali district

The China-Pakistan Friendship Highway before the Karakorum mountain range near Tashkurgan in China's western Xinjiang province. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD:
The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Thursday approved the award of work, worth more than Rs4 billion, for a section of the western route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The approval – regarding Package-2D of Hakla-D I Khan section of the CPEC’s western route – came at a meeting of the NHA’s Executive Board. The meeting presided over by NHA chairman Shahid Ashraf Tarar also had a detailed discussion on financial and administrative affairs.

Govt sets aside Rs44bn for CPEC’s western route

According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the evaluated bid price of the project was Rs 4.4 billion and the lowest evaluated bidder M/s Khalid Rauf & Co (Pvt) Ltd got the award.

The total length of the project located between Rehmani Khel and Kot Belian in District Mianwali is 13.4km and the width of the four-lane motorway will be 7.3 meter, while Right of Way will be 100m wide.


According to a NHA official, it was the last section of western route which was left to be awarded, and work on the rest of the sections is already underway.

The meeting also approved award of work for rehabilitation of flood-affected road portions and construction of bridges between Fazilpur-D I Khan on Indus highway. The cost of the project will be more than Rs1.36 billion.

According to the documents, the PC-1 of the project titled, ‘Rehabilitation of National Highways Network Damaged due to Unprecedented Monsoon Rains and  Flash Floods in 2010’ was approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC ) on April 10, 2015 at a revised cost of Rs49 million, including Foreign Exchange Component (FEC) of Rs44 million.

‘Make western route integral part of CPEC’

Pakistan has received a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the cost of Post-Flood National Highways Rehabilitation Project (PNHRP). Therefore, the project has been funded 90% by the ADB and 10% by the government through its Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), according to the documents.

Under the project, 9.67km-long road will be rehabilitated and three bridges will be built between Fazilpur and Taunsa, while 3km-long road and three new bridges will also be constructed between Taunsa and Ramak. Likewise, the 13km-long road between Ramak and D I Khan will also be rehabilitated.
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