M4 motorway: PM inaugurates Gojra-Shorkot section

Nawaz urges all political parties to support 'national agenda' of government

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated on Monday the second section of Faisalabad-Multan M4 motorway project.

“Rs21 billion was the estimated cost for Gojra-Shorkot section of the M4 project; however, based on the competitiveness this project will be completed in Rs17 billion,” PM Nawaz said in his address after the ground-breaking ceremony.



The premier claimed that the incumbent government was working with utmost transparency and for the first time funds are being saved on mega projects in the country. “We have saved around Rs115 billion in three LNG-based power projects which is a great achievement as no one in the past saved money.”

Nawaz said that motorways are valuable assets of Pakistan and they should be carefully maintained. “Six-lane Karachi-Lahore motorway is a mega project in the history of Pakistan which will dramatically reduce travelling cost.”

Further, the prime minister urged all political parties to support what he called the national agenda of the government. “Every Pakistani should support the national agenda of the government and every one should work for the betterment of Pakistan,” PM Nawaz said.



“Those who are trying to pull our legs are damaging Pakistan,” he said, adding the government has spent a lot of money on tackling terrorism and the rehabilitation of earthquake victims.

Earlier, PM Nawaz was briefed about the progress of work on the M4 motorway project which, once completed, will link southern parts of the Punjab with the north through already established networks of motorways.

The M4 motorway is divided into four segments: the 58km Faisalabad-Gojra section, which has already been opened for traffic; the 62km Gojra-Shorkot section; the 64km Shorkot-Dinpur section and the 45km Khanewal-Multan section. The work on four-lane Gojra-Shorkot section has been started which is expected to be completed by 2019.

The motorway will extend the M1, M2 and M3 southward and shorten the distance between Multan and the twin-cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.



Besides decongesting the country’s overburdened transport infrastructure, the M4 is expected to boost trade and travel while reducing time and money from the textile hub Faisalabad to Multan, a major trade centre. It is likely to open up new opportunities for the residents of Faisalabad, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh and Shorkot by providing faster access to bigger markets.

Last month, Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had signed a loan agreement of $178 million for construction of the Gojra-Shorkot section. The United Kingdom will also fund the construction, for which it will provide $90.7 million as a grant. The UK will disburse funds through the ADB. The government will invest the counterpart share of $46 million, bringing the total cost of the project to $315 million.