Pakistan

Hazara Motorway projects will usher in a new era: PM Nawaz

Says ground-breaking of Lahore-Karachi motorway will also be held soon

APP/our Correspondent August 14, 2015

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif speaks during briefing on Burhan-Havelian Motorway in Haripur on August 13, 2015. PHOTO: PID

CHICHIAN: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that the ongoing construction of motorways, expressways and road networks in the country will change the destiny of the masses and usher in a new era of progress and prosperity.

The prime minister was speaking at a briefing given to him on the progress of work on the 60-kilometre six-lane dual carriage Hazara Motorway being constructed from Burhan to Havelian at a cost of Rs 22.34 billion.

The premier was accompanied by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant to the PM Dr Asif Kirmani and MNA Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar.

The prime minister recalled that he had performed the ground-breaking of the Hazara Motorway project last year and he was visiting the area now to review the progress on the project which is to be completed by the end of 2016.

“This is a huge project, which is part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and will bring about progress and prosperity in the area through enhanced development activities, opening of schools, colleges, hospitals and help create job opportunities,” he said.

The prime minister said the ground-breaking of Lahore-Karachi would also be performed very soon while the work on Karachi-Hyderabad section of the motorway has already been started.

“I have directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman to complete the construction of Lahore-Karachi Motorway within the next three years,” he said.

The prime minister said the construction work on road networks in Balochistan was also going on at fast pace, under which a corridor from Gawadar to Mianwali via Quetta, Zhob and DI Khan was being constructed, and would later be connected with Hasanabdal.

“This road network would be connected with the Central Asia through Afghanistan,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (9)

Shakeel | 8 years ago | Reply I am in the same area. The remaining development time is 1 year, but actually expanded to more time to inaugurate just before next elections. Work progress too slow to complete in actual time line.

amk | 9 years ago | Reply I hope that they complete this road ASAP as the highway is very crowded and is affected badly whenever the rain pour in. In the Peak season and some other times it took me 7 hrs and more to just reach Peshawar from Abbottabad (barely 170 km). If you are very fortunate, than you will take 2 hrs to reach HassanAbdal from Abbottabad (almost 68 km). In addition the road is also very much risky due to the rash driving of trucks and buses and suzuki carry dabbas. I just wonder if there is any plan to improve the current Highway which is used to carry traffic from the whole country to China (Qaraquram Highway/Mansehra Road so many names but actually a very congested road). Probably the provincial government need to remove the encroachments on the road sides of Abbottabad, Havaillian and Harripur and widen the road also where required.

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The Khan-Waterloo,Ontario | 9 years ago | Reply @ali: When you're building roads, you are generating alot of jobs, both directly and indirectly. Roads also lead to a growth in industries as it leads to better connectivity

Parvez | 9 years ago | Reply Priority should be...education, health, law and order............and then roads.

timurid | 9 years ago | Reply "If you build it he will come"

Ahmad Nasser | 9 years ago | Reply @Ridwan: I am impressed and pleased that there are fair, level headed people like you in our Pak land. I am sick of people just repeating a certain party's propaganda without giving some thought to an issue or trying to understand it.

Ridwan | 9 years ago | Reply @ali: How can a nation progress without basic infrastructure such as roads? How will you attract industry if people can't even get their goods to port? Honestly, who would build a factory in Peshawar if it took weeks of trucking over bumpy roads in high heat? No one. Good roads aren't a luxury, they're a necessity. We need high quality and high capacity roads up and down the whole country. Regarding electricity, several thousand megawatts will be added within 3 years, because 3 years is about the minimum amount of time it takes to build a power plant. You can't speed this process up much more than that, so I think its an unfair criticism that he hasn't yet brought enough power capacity online. As for water, you're right. Big Pakistani cities need proper sewage systems. But I can guarantee that if Nawaz Sharif had launched a major sewage construction project, people would have complained that he should have first build proper roads and power plants before starting on sewage works. Not that that's an excuse for the government to do nothing - its one of his government's major flaws that they haven't focused attention on sanitation and cleanliness. India at least addressed the issue with the "Swachh Bharat" campaign. Even though it hasn't really been much of a success at all, its more than Pakistan has! Us Desis all across South Asia should not be so tolerant of filth.

Atif | 9 years ago | Reply Not development or modernization of local industry all talk and doing thinking which visually meal to poor masses (their vote bank). No focus on education.

ali | 9 years ago | Reply roads and more roads..Nation needs Industry, Jobs, Direct Taxes, LB elections, power and water first.

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