Construction of CPEC western route a major breakthrough: Imran Khan

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday afternoon said the construction of different roads particularly the western route under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a major breakthrough.

In a meeting with Chairman of Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, the PM assured that the government would modernize and improve the basic road infrastructure of Balochistan to ensure progress and prosperity in the province. He hoped that CPEC would usher the new era of social as well as economic improvement in the province.

During the meeting, they also discussed the dualization of Karachi-Quetta Regional Cooperation for Development Highway (RCD) Road.

The recent completion of Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway has proved a milestone achievement on the Western Route of the CPEC for providing fast connectivity to the locals as well as paving the way for preparing the shortest route for logistics moving to and from the Chinese province of Xinjiang to Gwadar Port.

The incumbent government has pledged to complete the Western Route on priority besides taking the CPEC projects forward by speeding up the pace of work in other areas including industries, clean energy, and agriculture.

The government is also keen to complete other road projects on the western alignment, especially Dera Ismail Khan-Zhob and Zhob-Quetta roads to minimize the travel time from the federal capital to Quetta.

The National High Authority has recently opened the Western Corridor portion of Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway. The 292.5 kilometres long four-lane motorway comprises of 11 interchanges, 36 bridges, 119 underpasses, 33 flyovers and 398 culverts.

On the CPEC Western Route, the completed projects include the 297 km Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway, the 235 km Qutta-Sohrab road, the 449 km Surab-Hoshab road, and the 193 km Hoshab-Gwadar road.

The under construction projects on the CPEC Western Route are the 305 kms Zhob-Quetta road, the 110 km Basima-Khuzdar road, the Nokundi-Mashkel road and the 146 km Hoshab-Awaran road.

The projects on the Western Route that are in the pipeline include the 360 kms Peshawar-D I Khan motorway, the 460 kms Karachi-Quetta-Chaman road, the 200 kms Mashkhel-Panjgur road, the 163 kms Awaran-Khuzdar road, the 228 kms Panjgur-Awaran road, and the 136 kms Awaran-Jhal Jao-Bela road.

Work on the 210 kilometer D.I. Khan (Yarik)-Zhob Road (N-50) and Zhob-Quetta (N-50) roads have already been completed while work on the 431 km Khuzdar-Quetta-Chaman Section of N-25 is also in progress. The Surab-Hoshab at N-85 and Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab (M-8) are already operational.

The government announced that the work on the 106 km Basima-Khuzdar road, Quetta to Khuzdar road and Khuzdar to Awaran and Hoshab road has also been started and would complete soon. The work on the western alignment routes of CPEC would be completed within three years.

All routes of the western alignment go through remote areas where poverty rate is higher, jobs are less and industrial development and infrastructure is very low, thus completion of these projects will usher in prosperity of the areas.