Imran Khan to inaugurate western CPEC project next month: Pakistani Communication Minister
Gwadar Pro
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed has announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate works on up-gradation of the Quetta-Chaman highway next month, turning the western China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route into a reality.
The federal minister made the announcement on the floor of the National Assembly and maintained that the Quetta-Chaman highway which was previously termed as a killer road will now be upgraded into a secure highway.
“We have already issued tender for upgradation works and Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the project next month,” he remarked.
Murad Saeed underscored that the western CPEC route was previously a dream but now South Khyber Pahtunkhaw and Balochistan areas were also witnessing progress on development projects.
Recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan congratulated the ministry of communication and the National Highway Authority (NHA) for saving public money on the construction and rehabilitation of highways and motorways.
Taking to Twitter, the prime minister congratulated the ministry of communication and NHA for saving public money through transparency and digitization and mentioned that this was done despite global price hikes and inflation.
Official data suggests that work on various road projects of the China CPEC Western Route were expected to be completed within three years.
On the CPEC Western Route, the completed projects on the Western alignment of CPEC include the 297 km Hakla-Dera Ismil Khan Motorway, the 235 km Qutta-Sohrab road, the 449 km Surab-Hoshab road, and the 193 km Hoshab-Gwadar road.
Whereas, the under construction projects on the CPEC Western Route include 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 Dera Ismail 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.
Similarly, the sources said that 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 sources added that 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.
